Fear No Evil
by TitansFan18
Summary: An Outbreak, A Rescue Mission Gone Wrong And A Fight for Survival in a World of Horror. F.E.A.R x RE: Genesis Movie Cross Over. Full summary inside. R&R Please!
1. Interval One: Prologue

Summary: A crossing between the game F.E.A.R and RE: The movie. Paxton Fettel wants to get his hands on the T-Virus for an unknown purpose, resulting in an outbreak at the Hive. A new team of F.E.A.R is sent down under commands from Umbrella to find out what went on inside. This takes place AFTER Extraction Point.

Long paragraphs written in _Italic _are referring to either things that go on in slow motion, or flashbacks. I hope you enjoy the story. Feedback is always welcomed.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to First Encounter Assault and Recon or Resident Evil… aside from a few CD's

Interval One: Prologue.

02/23/2007  
0932  
the Hive's Train Station

A large, orange magnetic train car stood at the center of the station, on each side of the car, the distinguishable blue and red umbrella insignia stood. Five workers, each wearing a very expensive black tie suit arrived at the scene of the station, driving forklifts. The whole station was ran by computers and the train itself was magnetic, so the whole area was filled with an awkward silence, not the usual fuss you'd expect to hear at a train station. The walls were in a strange chromatic color that reflected the white florescent lighting that emerged from the ceiling.

One of the employees got off his forklift and lit himself a cigarette. The left portion of his suit had a small identification badge on it. It read Forman and was decorated by a black magnetic stripe and a barcode.

"This was supposed to arrive one hour ago!" he exclaimed in anger and took a long drag off his cigarette, inhaling deeply. He let the smoke out and swore "I tell ya; those guys at the chairman's board simply don't understand that when we say we need those D.N.A encryption units by Eight, we'll get them by eight. Not nine!"

Forman swore again and ran his I.D card through a slot located near the car's door. The computer took a few seconds to decipher the information located inside the card, but as it did, a female voice echoed through the interior of the train station

"Thank you. _Forman, Eric_. The cargo onboard exists of _Five, D.N.A Encryption units Mark 96-V_ that need to be delivered to _Lab sector 7_. That is all"

Forman spat on the floor loudly and typed a series of commands onto a keypad on the car's side. A conveyor belt kicked in and hauled five massive hulking metallic black boxes that towered to the height of a grown man out of the car. The boxes were labeled in bold red letters and were also painted in a chromatic tone, giving them a certain menacing black aura.

"Alright boys, move 'em out!" Forman yelled as he jumped on his forklift and turned it back on. The roar of the engine and the smell of burnt gasoline filled the compartment as his four companions did the same. The large metal hands were shoved under the boxes and lifted them high into the air. Slowly, the convoy of forklifts turned around and drove down a long hallway leading away from the train station back into the hive. There was a huge smile on Forman's face; Just two more shipments like this and he'll have the entire month of March to himself. No cargo shipments, no supplies arriving, he took care of it all this month. He took another drag off his cigarette and grinned; he'll have to thank his cousin Spencer for fixing him that job at Umbrella, maybe they'll go have a beer together of something…

A clicking noise from inside the crate he was carrying caught his attention. He stopped his forklift, which resulted in the rest of the convoy halting and commanded an X Ray scan to take place inside the crate, to see if something broke or cracked. After all, a 5 Million Dollar piece of equipment is no sofa you transfer in the middle of Brooklyn. The scan detected no fissures in the equipment, causing him to draw a sigh of relief and placing his foot on the gas pedal once more, moving further towards the hive.

Inside the crate, four soldiers, dressed in a black and white urban camouflage uniform, large metallic elbow and knee pads, black torso tactical armor, thigh holsters and gas masks were done assembling their weapons; four green and black G2A2 Assault rifles. The fifth soldier, holding a black VK-12 Combat Shotgun touched his earpiece to activate it

"Command, this is team one of Echo-6, we've successfully infiltrated the facility and awaiting further orders" he said in a low, computer altered voice. A few seconds later, his earpiece let out the same sentence, telling him that team two has also made it in the facility.

"Good job, Echo-6" said a third person, sounding exactly like the previous two "Stand by until reaching your first checkpoint and execute your first objective: Taking over the Hive facility"

"Roget that, over and out" replied the two team leaders and signed off

(--T--)

"Oh, for the love of God, turn that shit down!" A girl's voice boomed across a small closed room. The voice originated from an extremely irritated looking Latina who jumped out of her small black leathered chair along with her scream.

"A'ight, a'ight, Rain, no need to go nuclear" someone said. That someone was J.D, one of Rain's squad mates. J.D wasn't the bulkiest of men, but made up for it in his amazing ability to handle firearms. He was one of Rain's closest friends, and the only person she could actually stand listening to without getting annoyed. He reached across the small metallic table and turned down the volume of the radio which was blurting out two whole hours of music originally composed by the Umbrella Corporation to increase work efficiency.

"Thanks" she said quietly and sat back down, examining her MP-5 machine gun closely. Rain was a slim and well tanned Latina, her face, which often displayed nothing more than utter annoyance were covered by an annoying strand of hair that kept covering the girl's right eye. On the other side of her face, a shorter strand was itching the side of her eye, which only contributed to her annoyance. She was constantly trying to blow the strand away from her right eye, but it kept coming back. She growled with anger and crossed her arms across her chest.

"I think it looks nice" J.D commented, catching her attention. She slowly turned her head towards him

"Blow me" she replied. A normal person would be offended by such a remark, but knowing Rain, J.D knew that it was her way to say that comment was registered. There was silence for a few moments, but it was broke by another growl, escaping Rain's lips

"This, is so, FUCKING, boring!" she cried with frustration and got up again, strolling around the small security room

"Relax, One and Kaplan should be back any second now and we'll be out patrolling" J.D replied, turning his chair around and tracking her as she circled the small room. In a split second, she turned towards him and pointed her gun's barrel right in his eye

"That's what you said the last time I asked you, man! Don't you give me that bullshit" she screamed at him. J.D remembered actually getting scared the first few times she did that, back when he thought she was mental.

"And when _was_ the last time you asked? Hmm?" He raised his right arm and pushed a button to stop his stopwatch which read 0:04:48:00

"Five minutes ago" He sighed "You seriously need to relax a little, Rain, you're way too jumpy. Ever thought about trying yoga?" That comment made the annoyed look on her face fade, a little smile crept to her lips and she let out a few giggles

"C'mon man" she said, trying to hide her laugh and put a serious face on "You know I don't like that word"

"What word?" J.D pretended and made a full circle in his chair "By any chance do you mean the word… Yoga?" She entered a short fit of laughing, brining her hand to her lips, trying to hide her smile

"Ye-Ye-ah" she replied between giggles. J.D put his hands behind is head and sighed, this was going to be too easy

"I don't get it" he said "What's so funny about the word yoga? I mean, yoga's not that funny. Yoga is actually really serious; I can't really understand how can you laugh about something as extremely important as yoga"

By the time he had finished that sentence, Rain wasn't able to stand anymore, now sitting, back to the wall, hands spread sideways and laughing hysterically. J.D got up and sat beside her, bringing his mouth close to her ear

"No…!!" she whimpered, knowing what's going to happen. He did this to her every time she actually got on his nerves during their guarding routines.

"Yooooooooooooooooogaaaaaaaa" he said, prolonging the word as much as he humanly could without running out of air. His companion broke into fits and started banging her fist against the floor. Quite an unusual scene for those who know Rain. But she had a weak spot for J.D, he was the only one who could make her laugh, and do a damn good job too. This could've gone on for hours, until J.D decided he got back at her hard enough, but as he was about to say the forbidden word again, he was interrupted by a deep man's voice

"Yoga again? I thought I told you two to knock it off" This was James "One" Shade, both J.D and Rain's Commanding Officer, and team leader.

'One' was your average commando roll model; a towering mass of pure muscle and strict military training, wearing the black umbrella combat uniform, along with the ammunition vest, which Rain and J.D casually threw aside during their time in the security room, 'One' always seemed to set an example for all military personnel, everywhere; his hair was cut just in the appropriate length, his army shoes were tied without even one knothole skipped, a feat even Rain didn't try to achieve. Two steely blue orbs located inside his eye sockets only contributed to his cold and harsh face, 'One' was a man whose reputation went before him.

"Sorry, **SIR**!" the Latina exclaimed while gathering her composure in a second and hopping back on her army boots. J.D followed by getting up slowly under 'One's examining eyes

"By all means, J.D, take your time. Wouldn't want you to pull something, heavens forbid" the commanding officer said with a cold sense of sarcasm. He then shifted his eyes to Rain, who was busy dusting her black pants from dust they gathered from the floor.

"Spring cleaning in February, Ocampo?" he commented dryly, immediately making the girl stop and give him a cold look

"I told you to stop looking at me that way" he said and exhaled "Now drop, and give me two hundred while J.D organizes the guard exchange papers!" the man barked that order in a way that reminded Rain of her old Drill Sergeants back when she was a SEAL. It was to her liking

"Sir, yes **SIR**!" she replied, shouting and jumping to the cold metal floor, landing on her palms and toes and starting to go up and down at an alarming pace. J.D was busy fixing the large pile of papers and gave the girl a quick glance

"Uh, sir?" he began, earning his commander's attention "I don't think I'll be done by the time she finishes two hundred. I mean, look at her!" he gestured at his partner with two hands and a crooked smile "I mean, she's a speed demon!"

"Ya hear that, Ocampo?" 'One' said with a disrespecting tone "New ballgame: You're gonna do pushups, until J.D here finishes with his papers. Got it?"

"Got it, **SIR!**" she replied, even speeding up as she did. Even though they couldn't see it, 'One' was staring at the girl with certain awe. It's not that he wanted to go harsh on her. She practically _asked_ him to do so the day she joined the team.

"_So I won't lose my edge, sir_" he remembered her saying, to which he replied with an understanding nod

"Done!" J.D exclaimed; whacking and fixing a large stack of papers on the table. "Guard exchange papers signed, noted, and ready to be filed" He said with a large grin. The man peered downwards to see the girl still going at it

"Hey, Rain, you can stop now" he said. The female commando gave him a look that could kill.

"Shut. The _fuck_, up!" she heaved while finishing another push up and jumping to her feet.

"Numbers, Ocampo, I want to hear numbers" 'One' said. The way 'One' acted amazed J.D, as he knew that wasn't the way his commander usually treats his men. He considered asking Rain about it once, but decided to pass, at least for now.

"Five, fifty five, **SIR**!" she shouted. J.D's jaw dropped, 'One' on the other hand, stayed indifferent

"Very good, Ocampo, but I want to see you break a sweat next time!" he barked. Rain replied with a sharp salute and sent her MP-5 back to her hands.

"Umm, are you sure you're okay, Rain?" a voice came from behind 'One'. The two identified it immediately, but it was J.D who was the first to reply

"Oy Vey, Bennie, you're a mess!" he exclaimed while a slim man, barely making it to 'One's shoulder.

Ben, 'Bennie' Kaplan was a mystery to the team. He was the latest addition to the team. An ex field medic by profession and a huge disbeliever in firearms, Kaplan only carried the mandatory Desert Eagle, and only after double checking it and removing the magazine. His ammunition vest, unlike Rain's, which was filled up to zero space with 30 round MP-5 magazines and fitted with extra compartments for three extra grenades, was filled with bandages, syringes and all sorts of additional medical equipment. Kaplan, though short in stature, made up for it in smarts. He was able to treat anything from a papercut to a severed arm, and aside from that, was a real fun person to talk to during extended boring guard periods.

"This whole 'walk through hallways for two hours' is just not my thing, J.D" he replied, sitting down on one of the chairs and taking a spin in it.

"Well, it is mine. I'm outta here" Rain said and left the room, J.D following closely behind her, yelling for her to slow down

"Man, I tell ya, Boss, that Rain is one weird piece of work" Kaplan said casually while checking one of the security cameras

"If I had to title Rain's behavior, It'd be 'SEAL-fitting', Kaplan" 'One' replied. The soldier lowered his head deeper into the screen, noticing the tone in his commander's voice. His eyes shifted dully between one screen and another, they all displayed the same monotonous emptiness in blue, dancing images; Labs, Mess Hall, various corridors and air ducts, Surface-

"Uh, 'One'? You better take a look at this" the medic said in a rather urgent tone.

(--T--)

"… And I said: Dude. See that badge? It's Delta Force. D-E-L-T-A. You know, triangle?"

"God, my ribs, stop!" the girl begged. For the past fifteen minutes, J.D told her about his latest trip to the surface, including his visit to the local bar, and Rain seemed to find it hilarious

"I swear" she said, wiping off a tear "When I get outta here, I'm gonna get laid" J.D gave her a look, raising an eyebrow

"Damn, what's gotten in to you?" he asked, half amused "It's like pushups turn you on or something" Once done, he noticed the girl was looking at him in an unusual way. In a split second, she plastered him against the wall with her body and locked her lips onto his in a passionate kiss. It lasted for several minutes, but was broken off as the Latina's lips started trailing down the man's warm neck

"I don't know what's gotten into you…" He said while breathing heavily "But I like it!"

"Shut the hell up" she replied as her fingers raced down his body and fondled his belt open, now reaching inside his black pants. J.D leaned hard against the wall and stiffened a groan of mixed pleasure and surprise. Rain grinned with satisfaction and slithered down his body. He tried tracking her with his eyes, but as soon as her lips closed around him, his head titled up, eyes closing, biting his lip

The act didn't last too long for her taste, and sonly enough, the soldier's tense body relaxed. The Latina turned her head sideways and spat quickly and quietly. As soon as she was done with that, the black radio which was clipped onto J.D's pants awoke

"Rain, J, come in" the machine blurted. It was Kaplan. The female grabbed the device and unsnapped it while J.D was busy fitting his pants back on

"What's wrong, Bennie?" she asked. She could detect worry in the man's voice

"Gear up and meet us at Entry Point Two. We got a code Nine"

(--T--)

"Command, this is Echo-Six, the environmentalist has arrived. I believe the guarding unit is leaving its position to investigate. Awaiting orders" The soldier's intelligence was flawless. At those moments, an environmentalist named Matt Edison was making his way into the surface cover of the Hive: a huge mansion than included actual personnel and tenants that lived in coexistence, some of them aware of the activity that went on below them, and some weren't. Matt was making his way into the mansion cleverly disguised as a Rakoon City Police officer, sent to investigate a false claim of domestic disturbance. His organization supplied him with everything he needed, including a false badge, in hopes of him finding some dirt about the Umbrella Corporation. What Matt didn't know, is that ten commando troops, already in the facility he wished so much to get in to, were preparing to use his arrival as a distraction to take over the entire laboratory complex, and if he only wished to find dirt about Umbrella, what they were about to obtain is the equivalent of nuclear waste.

"Commence operation Clear Water. Repeat, operation Clear Water is at a go"

In two different locations across the huge lab complex, black cargo crated, which were supposed to contain D.N.A encryption units, broke open, and out of them poured out two groups of five infantrymen, dressed in black and white uniforms, metallic elbow and knee pads, black torso tactical armor, thigh holsters, gas masks and an array of assault rifles and shotguns.

Each group rallied outside the empty lab compartment in which the crates they dwelled in used to be. Using hand signs, the leader of each team, armed with a large VK-12 Combat Shotgun, directed each and every warrior to his target. The commandos replied with a nod and split up. Ten harbingers of death.

"So, I was telling Maggie that the new color was completely off and that she needed to dye it again. Oh, I tell ya, the girl flipped!" Said one worker to her friend. The other replied with a laugh and kept mixing the sugar into her coffee.

_A powerful kick was delivered to the fragile wooden door, the latter breaking inwards, away from its hinges, small splinters of wood flew everywhere, welcoming the dark soldier that stepped inside the large office. The door kept spinning and hit one of the female workers on the side of her head, a small trickle of blood shot out as her body went numb, the hot coffee in her hand spilling all over her friend. Her body was burned by the hot liquid, but she wasn't able to move, paralyzed with fear_

_The soldier's grip on the trigger tightened for a second, allowing three bullets to escape the muzzle with a startling roar and into the ceiling above, three golden shell casings flying away from the weapon's side._

"This facility is now commandeered by Paxton Fettel for a brief period of time" the soldier barked in a low, computerized voice. "The more cooperative you will be, the faster we'll be out of here" In the corner of his eye, he caught one of the employees reaching for a gun holster.

The soldier tilted his body weight sideway, his weapon following suit. Once the barrel was aligned with the disobedient man, he pulled the trigger once more. Again, the weapon roared, the man seemed to have been hit by a huge invisible punch to the stomach, flying backwards and lying motionless on a table behind him, his white shirt starting to get soaked with a red color.

"Lack of cooperation will be followed by severe consequences. Consider yourselves warned" he barked again, tightening his grip on the weapon. He then turned his attention to a security camera, located at the corner of the room, and shot it off, the small device breaking into bits.

"We're doomed. We're all gonna die down here" said one of the employees, on the brink of tears. The soldier looked at him, the white florescent light bouncing off his gas mask's two visors, showing no emotion what so ever.

"Team leader, Objective alpha has been secured. What's the sit-rep?" he radioed in

"Objective Bravo secured"

"Objective Charlie secured"

"Objective Delta secured"

There was a certain pause in which the soldier took the time to inspect his large assault rifle, looking at the other people in the room as he did

"Team two, this is team leader one. Primary objective Echo has been accomplished. What's your status?"

"Primary objective Foxtrot accomplished. Command, shall we proceed with extraction of the agent?"

As the last word hit the ears of the people in the room, they all turned pale

"Dear god. They're planning to take the Virus" said one employee to the other, cold sweat covering his face, running down in drips to the metallic floor.

"It's still in development, it's unstable!" the other whispered "It's unstoppable if released!"

"We have to do something!" the sweaty one whispered back, panicking. He knew what they were _really _developing down there, and if it broke out of the two titanium blast doors outside, the world will never be the same.

"I already am. Does everyone have their I.D badges on?" his friend asked. The other took a quick glance, earning a dull glare from the soldier, and nodded to his friend. The latter smiled, flipping a false cover at the bottom of his chrome desk, revealing a black interior, and a large red button in the center, branded with two reassuring words:

AUTO DEFENCE

Without a word, the man pushed the button, the noise caught the soldier's attention. He turned his weapon towards the man, wishing to add another number to his body count.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he noticed something in the corner of his eye; two of the ceiling tiles broke loose and fell down to the ground with a loud 'Thump', allowing two large silvery racks to fall down from the opened spaces. A mechanic noise could be heard as the racks erected a long black barrel and turned towards the soldier. He could see the golden belt of bullets used to feed the large machine gun hanging from the side. Under the gas mask, his eyes widened

"Hostiles!" he cried. Mustering all his strength, he grabbed a large chrome table that sat in front of him and flipped it over, ducking below it just as the two machineguns opened fire. The roar of the two weapons was unbearable and was accompanied by the sound of shell casing falling to the ground. The two guns fired a semicircle of bullets that hit the metallic table, ricocheting off it while giving off an impressive display of sparks that flew everywhere

"This is objective Alpha, I am under attack by static defenses, requesting backup!" he cried, trying to be heard over the hauls of the machineguns and the screams of the scared personnel. Those people have barely seen a pistol in their lives, let alone heard a machine gun firing above their heads

"Follow attack plan A-28" a voice came through the radio. The soldier readied himself and gave the machinegun above him a glace. Sonly enough the barrels will get hot and the weapon will have to stop firing, that'll be his chance. He gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the assault rifle. A few seconds later, as planned, the weapons stopped firing, coolants were pored onto the red hot muzzles, in an attempt to give them the option of firing much sooner. The soldier rose from his cover and took aim, squeezing the cold trigger.

(--T--)

"Who are you?" Matt asked again. When his fake police car pulled over the mansion, this was the last thing he expected.

The false police cruiser rolled to a halt in front of the two large gates of the mansion. Matt stepped out of the car and gave it a look, the people he was working with did an excellent job; he couldn't tell between the vehicle he was driving and a real RCPD cruiser. The logos, the body work, even the paint tone, they were all done with perfect similarity in order to fool everyone that he came across in his path to the target.

Matt's eyes shifted from the car to the large mansion, his look was one of pure disgust. His brown eyes were literally hurt by looking at that monument of lies. He knew that somewhere inside that house, the Umbrella Corporation was doing something illegal. His sister, another activist who was sent to work there undercover, was able to tell him they were messing with some form of Bio-Weaponry, being a secretary, she wasn't able to learn much about the qualities of this weapon, but he knew it was somewhere inside.

He pushed the gate, the latter creaking open with a sound that sent crows croaking everywhere, and a chill down the young man's spine. He closed the distance between the gates and the front door swiftly. As he arrived, he examined the two wooden doors, into which there were many forms and shapes carved beautifully. Matt knocked bristly on the door, but the latter opened in response. Surprised, the phony police officer stepped inside.

Judging by mere first appearance, the huge manner was deserted, it would seem whoever was living there had decided to leave in a hurry; men's clothing were spread all over the huge lobby, half filled suitcases were awaiting on the many leather couches, as if waiting for someone to close and take them away. Matt listened closely; through the silence, he could hear the noise of water running. Someone was in the shower.

"Rakoon City Police department, is there anyone here?" He cried; no response. Drawing the only real item in his cop disguise; a 0.38 revolver, Matt started climbing up the stairs towards the first floor of the mansion. He could feel his pulse hastening as his feet took him one golden stair after another towards the upper floor. Alongside the staircase, he saw plenty of pictures, perfectly framed in wooden frames. Most of them were paintings, valued at tens of thousands of dollars each

"_Affording it with blood of their victims, arrogant bastards_" his mind hissed. He kept inspecting the pictures as he went upwards, until finally seeing a real picture; it was a black and white wedding photo, but it wasn't old. Whoever took it just had an artistic taste. Matt glanced at it, the woman in the wedding dress was beautiful, much like the man beside her; short, neck length hair, a perfect smile and a crazy body. The man in the picture was smiling a million dollar smile, as if he had won the lottery. Just as his expression softened, his eyes darted to the top of the picture, where on a large banner, were the words Umbrella Wishes YOU a Happy Marriage, along with the large logo above the words. His upper lip quivered in disgust and he spat across the glass that covered the picture and moved on

As he approached the room from which the water noise came, Matt's finger automatically loaded the weapon. The reassuring 'Click' sound filled him with confidence and he opened the door completely, entering the room, lead by his gun. He swept the room from side to side quickly, empty, just a large bed, a dressed and a mirror. There was a closet to his side, half open and empty. A few cloths were tossed across the bed. It was then when he heard the water noise again, it was coming from the door in front of him, steam was coming out from below the door crack. His heart started beating faster again as he started pacing slowly towards the golden door

"Is there anyone in there?" he cried. There was no response. Expecting the worst, he grabbed the door knob, twisted and pulled it.

The door swung open at a surprising speed, allowing the naked body with was supported by the door to fall on him. He gave a surprised cry and tried holding the body back, but in no avail. He slipped back and hit his head on the floor, sending a wave of pain through him, shaking him up. He grabbed the body from both sides and slid it off him, getting up and inspecting it.

It was the beautiful woman from the picture he saw earlier, he could now see her short hair was colored blonde and her eyes were blue. She was staring at him with a strange dazed look that made her seem asleep for some reason. He checked her neck for a pulse and drew a sigh of relief once finding a strong one. She wasn't sick, just passed out. He took his hand and slapped her gently, moving her head from side to side and asking her to wake up. It didn't take too long before his system took affect and the woman has indeed woke up, looking at him with the same dazed look as before

"Who are you?" he asked. She looked at him in a quizzing manner, as if not understanding what he was saying

"Who are you?" He asked again. The girl opened her mouth, her brain trying to find words and assemble a sentence

"I… I… I…" She stammered. The man in front of her put his face in his hand, shaking it from side to side in disappointment

"We'll work on that later" He told her while getting up. Her eyes tracked him to the large brown bed, from which he picked up several pieces of clothing and threw them to her

"You DO remember how to get dressed, right?" He asked her. She silently nodded and started putting the clothes on; a red tube top with a black jacket and a short black skirt to match. She a certain difficulty putting on her high heels, not quite managing to get her foot in, so he had to assist her, softly inserting both her feet into the black shoes and helping her up. She smiled at him, the same perfect smile he saw in the picture outside

"I'm Matt" He said, suddenly feeling a mental blow to the head "Uh, I mean, Officer Mathew Edison, RCPD" her smile grew wider

"I'm… I'm… "She stammered again. The smile vanished and two fingers grabbed the side of her head, rubbing it slowly.

"You seriously can't remember who you are?" he asked her. She replied with a slow nod. He looked at her, options were racing through his head; maybe she was drugged and dragged here, maybe she had nothing to do with Umbrella, or maybe she was deceiving him and leading him into an ambush

"It doesn't matter now. We'll get you out of here and take you downtown, maybe the people there will be able to help you" he offered, smiling. She looked at him with blue eyes filled with hope and nodded

"Let's go"

As soon as they left the room, Matt sensed something was off, his back tingled with the feeling he was being watched, and as much as he tried shaking it off, he couldn't

"Come on" he told her, leading her towards the stairs "My cruiser's just outside the-"

"**FREEZE!**" a growl went through the halls. From both their sides, two people dressed in black had descended from the floor above and were aiming sub machineguns at them. The girl, whoever she was, gave out a horrified scream. Instinctively, Matt went for his weapon, but felt the holster was empty. The painful realization of him leaving the gun back at the room hit him.

"Run!" he told the woman and sprinted down the stairs with her following close by. Just as he was fifteen steps away from the lobby, he heard the awful noise of glass shattering above him. Looking up, he saw two more soldiers, dressed entirely in black and ski masks repelling from the ceiling and quickly catching up to him.

As a last resort, he tried jumping the last eight steps, but was caught in midair by one of the warriors. The two tumbled across the floor for a few seconds in which Matt tried to fend off his assailant, with no success. The soldier pinned him on his back and cuffed him in lightning speed. The next thing he knew, the ski mask was thrown beside him and an extremely annoyed girl's voice reached his ears

"Going somewhere, asshole?"

In those seconds, Matt had some time to think about his plan. He didn't actually thought the whole bursting into the mansion and asking questions thing though, and the commando unit that jumped him came as a complete shock. He knew Umbrella wanted this place locked down tight, but he could never imagine they'd have actual commandos guarding the place.

"_Oh, shit_"

"Look. I'm a cop, okay?" He said, squirming as much as the knee in his back allowed him "I've been called here after a domestic disturbance claim"

"Bullshit!" he heard the girl above him yell, and felt her knee being jabbed deeper into his back. "Your I.D badge isn't identified in the system, whoever you are, you're not a cop" she told him.

"I just transferred here!" he protested, trying to keep the cold sweat the flushed his body at bay, without much success

Rain halted her attack. Every cell in her body screamed that the guy was lying, and yet, she pulled her knee a bit away from his back

"J, check that out with the police station" she barked towards the other soldier, who in response let go of his weapon and reached for his radio. After a few nerve racking moments in which Matt's body produced sweat in places he didn't even know could sweat, he slapped the communication unit back in his belt and grinned

"He checks out, Rain, let him go" he said, sounding disappointed. The knee was completely removed and Matt got to his feet. He was about to request the girl to remove his cuffs when the other soldier said something that sent his heart to an alarming pace

"One thing bothers me though…" He said, looking at Matt carefully. The police officer gulped silently

"What?" he asked eventually. J.D brought his palms together and sighed

"I don't know… You just don't seem like a Rebecca to me" Matt's face went pale. Inside his brain, his fight or flight instinct was going haywire. He examined the soldier quickly; he was sitting down, and had all those magazines on him, thatought to slow him down

"_Maybe if I turn around and dash for the exit he would be able to outrun me.._" he thought, his body already beginning to slowly spin towards the exit, but the startling sound of a weapon being loaded shot him back to reality. He looked ahead to find out he was staring down the black barrel of Rain's MP-5. The Latina moved her head sideways, away from the iron sights and gave Matt a look filled with spite and disgust

"Just give me a reason" she said quietly, but loudly enough for him to hear it. He froze still, not knowing what to do. Before he could act though, she pulled him by his shirt's collar, turning him around and resuming her grip on his handcuffs. It was then when he got to take a close look on her. His eyes darted across her body to a unit patch, sewed into the shoulder of her uniform. It was a mean looking red skull, armed with sharp teeth and a vicious look in its empty eye sockets, behind the skull was the unmistakable blue and red Umbrella trademark

"What're we gonna do with him and Snow White here?" Rain asked, pointing her gun's barrel at the girl whom 'One' and Kaplan were bringing down from the upper floor. She looked petrified at the sight of them, as pale as a corpse and shaking like a leaf

"We're going to take them down for investigation" 'One' replied dryly and left the girl for J.D whilst himself and Kaplan moved further down the hall, towards a large mirror.

Suddenly, communicators on all four of the commandos started blinking in a bright blue light. J.D was the first to pull the device out and read the encoded text message, automatically sent by the Red Queen computer system

"Oh, shit" he said in a shallow voice "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" he turned towards Rain with a worried face

"It's a code Wonderland" he said, frightened "There was a break in"

"Move it, you two!" they heard 'One' shouting. He sounded nervous "Take the two civilians with you, we'll decide on what to do with them later" Once done, both him and Kaplan just ran through the glass, which was now having a liquid look to it as the silvery matter rippled in waves inside the mirror's frame

"Come on!" Rain said, grabbing hold of Matt's arm and pulling him along with her into the mirror. J.D and the girl followed suit, the soldier could've sworn her heard her whisper something, just as they walked through the false glass towards their transport

"_Please no… Don't… I don't want to go down there…_"

"_Not again_"

(--T--)

"Command, this is Echo-Six. Extraction of objective Omega is in progress, requesting immediate evacuation from LZ number one" one of the soldiers of team 2 radioed. Soon, this will all end

The five soldiers were all cluttered up in a single white room. The door they used to enter was branded with a black tri-clawed Biohazard warning sign. They each knew their part in the mission, the date psychically uploaded into their minds by their commander, Paxton Fettel.

Two soldiers manned a large silvery control console and were using it to manipulate two large metallic arms that were located behind a thick wall of glass. The silver arms were pulling one vile of blue liquid after another from their cooling tanks, the mixture of the super cooled liquid Nitrogen inside the tanks and the air outside caused white fog so seemingly pour out of the chrome containers.

One vile after another, the arms inserted the glass containers into a cooled black box, held by a third soldier that stood inside the room. The process went along smoothly, and sonly enough, the silver arms were extracting a single vile of neon green liquid, again putting it inside the box.

"Team two, this is objective Alpha; Bravo and Delta have been dispatched by the perimeter's internal defense system, requesting permission to rally with Charlie and Echo and commence the Lucid Dream stage of the operation" the soldiers' earpieces rang. One of them, assigned on guard duty, replied

"Affirmative, Objective Alpha, rallying will commence in T-minus Fifteen--- **TARGET SPOTTED!**"

"Holy shit!" Kaplan yelled and rolled back to the corner he took just second ago, a hail of sparks and gunfire welcoming him

"Who are these fucks?!" Rain shouted over another burst of gunfire that echoed through the long hallway. She tapped Bennie on the shoulder and directed his attention to an office, just a few meters ahead and to the left. He nodded strongly

The Latina peeked across the corner with her upper body, making visual contact with the enemy, her teeth clenched and she squeezed the small black trigger. A roar and a burst of fire escaped the barrel of the MP-5 as it unloaded a hail of hot lead towards the doorway that used as the soldier's cover. He quickly threw his body weight and vanished inside the room, allowing the three round burst to fly past him harmlessly.

Bennie gulped, seeing the soldier has lost his position, he ran and allowed his body to collapse just as he left Rain's side, skillfully cartwheeling into the office she had directed him into. He quickly unlatched his Desert Eagle and pulled back on the loading mechanism, inserting a single round into the chamber.

"Go!" he heard Rain shout. Getting up from his cover, he pulled the trigger several times. His pistol barked and let loose two bullets that crashed through a two-way mirror barrier that was beyond Rain's sight. The glass collapsed at impact, shattering into a million shards that flew everywhere. Two more soldiers that he could now see turned towards him and opened fire. Without even thinking, he ducked down behind a counter, god knows how many bullets flew above him and into the wall that stood behind.

Meanwhile, the soldier hiding near the doorway decided it was time to try and take another crack at killing the girl. He swerved past the doorway, gun at the ready

Smack down inside the MP-5's iron sight.

Rain's blue eye registered the body appearing in front of her. The expression she wore didn't change as she pulled the trigger and felt the small recoil of the weapon against her shoulder. An invisible punch hit the soldier's chest as two bullets penetrated his tactical armor. The third entered through his gas mask's visor, dead inside the eye. He crashed backwards at the metallic doorway, leaving a red smear all over the silver beam

"We got a man down!" a third soldier cried and joined his friends in the shooting. All three of them focused their suppression fire on Kaplan, who was unable to get up and assist his friend

"I'm pinned down here!" he cried over the shooting. Rain's eye left the iron ring, decorated with a small line coming from its bottom that served as a sight for her sub machinegun and drifted to Kaplan

"_Time to kick it up a notch_" her brain said. Her thumb moved across the side of the weapon and clicked the safety downwards from Burst mode to fully automatic. In her mind, the number 24 floated; 24 bullets left. She rolled across the wall and began running down the hall, giving off bursts at random lengths as she did. The three troops hurried for cover, finally allowing Kaplan to rise from his cover and join the ex-SEAL in firing.

Rain could now see the shattered window from which the soldiers have been firing, it was fairly low, and had a counter inside the room. The enemy soldiers were no where in sight, "_must've ran for cover_" she thought and already planned her next move; jumping across the window into the room, with the ten rounds left inside the magazine, she could easily take them. She was about ten meters away from the window, already preparing her legs for the jump, her heart was beating fast, adrenaline pumping through her veins, just the way she liked it.

_Another soldier rose from behind the counter, and Rain found herself running directly into the long black barrel of his shotgun. Her blue eyes widened suddenly, replacing her usually annoyed and cold look with that of shock and surprise_

_She was able to see her reflection off the man's visor, but her eyes darted down to his trigger finger. The girl knew he was about to fire any second from now, but she was still running towards him_

_Click_

_BAM!_

_A small amount of flames escaped the long muzzle, following the large single slug that was shot out. By that time, Raid had already sent one of her legs further than she should have while running, purposely tripping herself and sliding below the slug. _

_The black slug itself screamed its way down the hall, spinning around itself in order to gain extra stability_. _Had it made contact with the girl as planned, it would've surely blow a major part of her head away, if not her entire head, but that wasn't going to happen as the slug continued it's path down the hall, making contact with a large computer console that stood in the junction, obliterating it_.

"Red Queen system compromised, initiating White Rabbit defense program" a young British girl's voice echoed across the hallway. Kaplan turned his head sideways, looking outside the doorway.

A ceiling tile broke, and from it, a single weapon erected. It wasn't one of the machineguns like the one's in the office complex. Oh, no, the barrel of that weapon was much wider and had a red laser sight coming from below it, stretching a long red line into the room from which the shot came from.

The commando turned his head towards Rain, who was leaning against the wall she dived into like a sprinter. His eyes shifted to the large Biohazard sign branded across the lab's metallic wall. They widened with fear

"Abort, Red Queen!" he shouted "You're firing into a level five Biohazard lab!" his word had no affect, and sonly enough, the grenade launcher's barrel let out a single silvery object, followed by a stream of heated gasses.

"Grenade, look out!" the shotgun wielding soldier cried. He turned towards the doorway, along with the remaining three men inside the room. Too late

"Shit!" the female commando cried after hearing the weapon fire. She pushed herself off the wall and sprinted mad down the hall, pushing her heart and lungs over the limit. She heard a loud whistling sound as the grenade flew past her and tried running even faster, to escape the weapon's killing range.

The silvery grenade flew past the shattered glass and the black box that was placed on the counter. One of the soldiers who just started running, tracked the grenade with his visor until it met its target; the opposing wall.

BOOM!

The explosion was ear shattering, and orange-red flames engulfed the room, consuming the remaining four soldiers that tried to escape the fiery inferno. A powerful shockwave followed suit, blowing everything that wasn't tied down to the floor outside the room; shards of broken glass, metallic stands and a single small black box.

The shockwave was so powerful it knocked the escaping Rain to the ground. She fell flat on her face and swore. One of the glass shards embedded itself high up her thigh. Her face writhed in pain, but she thanked god for still being in one piece, evading two near-death experiences in less than two minutes.

Her joy didn't last too long though, for as soon as she raised her head, she noticed the usually white lighting of the hallway was replaced with an eerie blue glow. A high pitched and rapid siren broke and screens which were spotted across the hallway and usually displayed trivial information like news from the city above or a weather report were now displaying a glowing blue screen with a brightly orange colored mark, shaped like three claws, under which, written inside a black stripe in red letters, was a single dreading word:

BIOHAZARD

"Come on!" Rain screamed as she met up with the Medic "We have to get to the decontamination room before Lockdown begins!" she sounded scared out of her mind, terrified. It sent a chill down the young man's spine. He quickly joined her as they both sprinted down the hall. The had only one minute to read one of the four decontamination rooms spread across the entire Hive complex, or they'd be left out in the hallways, with God knows what.

"What about the others?" Kaplan asked while picking up the pace, trying to match Rain's

"We broke off near De-Con room one" she told him while taking short breaths "We'll contact them using the intercom as soon as we reach the room" Her heart warmed towards the young Medic. Even now, when his fate was uncertain, he was still thinking of others before himself. She found that admirable.

They took a tight corner into another hallway that lead into a metallic staircase, going downstairs in hopes of safe refuge. Kaplan sent a silent prayer to God, asking him to assure the safety of his squad mates

"_Take care of them, please_" he begged in his mind "_Make them safe_"

(--T--)

A snoozing man, about in his early 20's, awoke at a beeping sound that went on for quite a while. In his sleep, he tried blocking it out, but it was impossible. He lazily opened his eyes and looked at his wristwatch; the green digits read 01:33. He tasted his dry mouth with a certain feeling of disgust and took a quick sip out of can that lay on his desk. He placed the container in a crooked manner, and it's contents were spilled across his shirt.

He swore and reached for a paper towel, wiping off the sticky liquid off his blue uniform, marked with a red and blue umbrella at the right side of his shirt. Once done, he looked towards the source of the beeping sound: he computer screen.

The blue light given off by the screen lit the man's pale face poorly. His eyes scanned the screen, which was displaying a large blue map of the United States, the blue perfection tarnished by a single blinking red dot. He typed several commands into the keyboard and read the data output which was displayed on the screen. His eyes gradually grew with panic as he read further down the page, eventually reaching an almost inhuman size. He turned around on his swivel chair, almost falling as he did and grabbed a red phone which was planted on one of the walls

"_Hello?_" came a voice through the phone. The young man gulped and opened his mouth

"It's the Hive, sir" he said in a disturbing tone

"We've had an outbreak"

(----------X----------)

Man, I certainly enjoyed writing this chapter. I think toying with the concept displayed in my story can be interesting, and I will try to make as interesting for you, the readers.

Sorry about the long chapter, I guess I kinda went crazy there. If anyone found it annoying or bothering, please tell me about it in your reviews. I want to make this story as great as possible for you, the readers.

I'll try to update on a weekly basis, but I can't promise anything. My army service is very demanding.

Anyway, I hope you liked the first chapter of F.E.A.R No Evil. Please review!


	2. Interval Two: Lockdown

Whoa, whoa, stop the presses and hold the phone! I actually got a review! I'd like to thank **Tanya Adams 64** for being my first reviewer in the Fear No Evil series, but, I won't forget the other 30 people who actually bothered reading it. I assure you, it will just keep getting better and better. Promise!

Disclaimer: I own the F.E.A.R game CD and the two RE movies, nuthin' more

Interval Two: Lockdown

3 hours later

Location: An unknown position. Codenamed: The Raven's Nest. Washington DC

Mission Time: 2h 51m 22s

"Trust me. We've used them before, during the Origin incident. They know what they're doing- I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"

Senator R.J Kelly shut his cell phone with anger. If there was one thing he hated, it was people who disrespected his decisions. And right now, he had a fifteen minute talk with a person whose entire purpose in life was just that.

The Senator was a grown man in his late 60's, it was evident on his wrinkled, frowning expression. The two piece black suit he wore was held tightly against his plump body and his brand new leather shoes made loud scratching noises as they hit the tiled corridor.

He looked both sides to see his two bodyguards; two soldiers, wearing normal green military uniforms and wielding the standard issued M-16 Assault Rifle in their hands. Their facial expression did not change during the entire time of his conversation; they didn't even look at him. Eyes looking forward, green barrettes hanging softly on their heads.

The trio walked past many doors on their way down the long corridor. Eventually, they reached the end of the hallway; two large wooden doors with golden knobs, guarded by two more soldiers, armed with smaller, Uzi SMG's.

Senator Kelly stopped near the right soldier, who replied with a sharp salute. Kelly's two bodyguards took positions near the two guards while the right one handed the balding man with a brown Bible, decorated with a golden cross. Kelly smiled at the soldier's professional manner. This was an irritating, yet compelling test, before he could enter the room.

He raised his left hand, and places his right one on the Bible, reciting a short prayer. His face quivered with a slight tingle of pain as a small needle erected from the center of the golden cross and drew blood from his palm. The book's white pages glowed green for a second and the soldier wielding it nodded the older man to enter the room.

Kelly finished his prayer and complied; pushing the two wooden doors open and walking past the two Uzi armed soldiers.

Once inside, Kelly couldn't help but to notice the two men already seated; one was younger then him by many years, he was carefully combing his slick blonde hair while casually inspecting several papers placed in front of him. His outfit seemed like it was pulled right out of a catalog; neatly pressed against his slim figure. On the table to his left was a small black suitcase, on which was printed a hexagonal blue and red sign. Kelly recognized it immediately; the Umbrella Corporation

The other man was older, approaching Kelly's own age, and if the other man seemed like he was pulled out of a catalog, this one seemed to have been plucked right out of a battlefield; He wore a plain set of black uniforms, a bullet proof vest and a hat. Both the vest and the hat bore a white rectangle, in which were four capital letters

F.E.A.R

"Betters" Senator Kelly said in his raspy voice and took a seat in one of the many leather chairs scattered across the long conference table that was placed in the middle of the room.

"Kelly" The older man replied, sounding a bit nervous. He took a short sip of cold water and opened his mouth again

"It's nice to see you again"

Kelly shifted in his chair and glanced at the young man with the blonde hair. He hasn't said a single word since he entered.

"I only wish we could meet on occasions merrier than this" He replied and continued.

"I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Cain" he started and gestured towards the man, who now displayed enough courtesy to turn his attention to the two men and away from his hair. His brown eyes looked at the Senator, then to the man in uniform and back to the Senator

"He's a… Representative, sent here by the Umbrella Corporation to lay down the specs of your mission"

"Indeed" Cain said; a strong German accent in his voice. He flashed two piles of paper across the wooden table, one reached Betters, and the other one arrived at Kelly's waiting hands.

"Approximately three hours ago, a team of ten soldiers has infiltrated one of the Corporation's research facilities, codenamed the Hive" Cain picked up a remote control from within the suitcase and clicked it. A large screen lit up, displaying bits and pieces of security footage, showing the enemy soldiers taking over several labs and offices.

Seeing the troops on screen made Betters' face run dry of blood

"_Replicas? Again? But… How?" _his mind asked. The man muted his questions, knowing they'd only cause trouble.

Ignoring the older man's change of expression, Cain continued

"These men seem to be highly trained, and were able to take on several positions of the facility's internal defenses. Luckily, one of our commando units, the Crimson Skulls, was assigned to guard the facility. They reacted quickly, and naturally, a gunfight broke out"

The screen was now presenting a rear view of a girl, hiding behind a corner while gunshots flew past her. She then rounded the corner and let out a quick burst from her sub-machinegun and charged down the corridor, beyond the camera's reach.

"The following events are a bit of a blur to us" The man said and took a sip of his water

"It would seem something has triggered an explosion in the lab section, and released a powerful viral agent into the air-"

"I heard a little about that… 'Hive' facility of yours" Betters said, trying to have a better understanding of the situation

"I know that aside from usual guards, you also have a super computer, the… 'Red Queen', I believe" he said in his western accent. That made Cain shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"Ah, yes, the Red Queen" he said in his monotonous voice "Well, it would seem that there was a slight…" he cleared his throat "Miscalculation in the system's hard drive and-" Betters stopped him by raising his hand. He was getting tired of that man, fast

"How many fatalities?" he asked flatly. Cain lowered his head

"Five hundred" he replied quietly "All personnel inside the Hive were killed within a five minute time of the viral outbreak to prevent outside contamination"

"Well, then this is obviously not a search and rescue mission" Betters said, voice still flat. He despised the man in front of him, but tried to keep it in check

"What do you want us to do?"

"Well" he started "my superiors need you to shut down and extract the Red Queen's main memory board for analysis"

That was it

"No" Betters replied, still quietly "I will not have my men sent on a suicide mission inside a biological war zone to retrieve some discs because _your_ men couldn't handle a couple of terrorists"

"Now, Rowdy" Senator Kelly said, sensing his friend's temper rising. "We've been ordered by the Ministry of Defense to follow Umbrella's orders. Let's do it as professionally and coolly as we always do. No need to blow a fuse" Betters looked at the older man with surprise and then realized what he was doing

"Yeah, you're right" he replied, calming down "No need to get annoyed with a simple task"

"Indeed" Cain added, just to earn a glare from Senator Kelly. He tosses a bundle of CD's across the table, over to Betters

"These contain every bit of information about the Hive's structure and the Red Queen. They'll provide your team with all the information they need to complete the mission"

Cain got up and turned to leave, but was stopped by Betters' voice

"One last question" he said "What about survivors? Either civilian or members of your commando squad?"

"A secondary objective, if any" the man replied as casually as one would if he was talking about last week's weather. That's all Betters needed to hear; the last red flag has been raised.

"I see" he said, grinning inwardly "Have a nice day, Mr. Cain, we'll be in touch"

Betters then reached for his pocket and pulled out a small cellular phone. He activated the device and made a call

"Collins? This is Rowdy; we've got ourselves a mission. Data will be uploaded shortly"

He took a short breath

"Assemble the team"

(--T--)

"Almost there… Got it!" Kaplan exclaimed with triumph. To his right, lying on her stomach across a bonk bed, Rain seemingly replied with an audible gasp of pain.

"Damn, Bennie!" she yelled "I thought you were supposed to be good at this, that fucking _hurt_!"

The medic grinned at his companion's reply and quickly pulled out a medical sewing kit out of his vest

"That shard was lodged on top of a serious nerve cluster. I'm surprised you didn't pass out" he replied "Now come on, lower your pants so I can sew this little bad boy"

Rain was about to lash out a snappy comment, but decided not to. If it were J.D, asking her to do that, she'd probably smack him across the face, but Kaplan was different; a strict professional in all that came to medical treatments and a man of high morals in general.

She complied; quickly lowering her black army uniform below the throbbing cut and waiting for the treating to begin.

Kaplan's eyes didn't drift above the wound for even a second. He took an oath to never take advantage of his patients in any way back when he was training to be a field medic, and he defiantly saw checking out his squad mate's figure while treating her wound as taking advantage.

Picking up a bundle of cotton soaked in disinfectant, he worked his way around the wound, cleaning up the red fluid that dried up alongside the leg and then eventually running a quick, yet thorough run through the wound itself, trying to make it as quick and painless as he could.

Rain hissed out at the small sting her thigh had received. Above her, Kaplan immediately apologized. She smiled inwardly, having known plenty of nice guys in her 25 years alive. She was never surprised when they tried to exploit some angle in an attempt to get her in the sack

Kaplan never did that, he was just plainly… Nice. So nice it was inhuman in some occasions

"I'm starting to patch it up, it might hurt a bit" he warned her. She gave an approving nod and bit her lower lip as he approached her, digging the small silvery needle in her flesh.

_"Alright, boys and girls. Here's the wager!" J.D exclaimed, much like a football announcer. His crowd; the remaining members of the Crimson Skulls, save Rain, cheered. It was the end of their range week at Umbrella's Wesker training facility, and 'One' has allowed them to blow off some steam_

_"Our very own Rain Ocampo told me she could assemble her MP-5 a-n-d engage fifteen different targets in exactly forty five seconds! That is to say, fifteen seconds to assemble a fully dismantled MP-5 and two more seconds to each target. Can she do it?!" He paused_

_"While blindfolded?" he added, prolonging the word and pronouncing every part of it_

_There was a mixture of Yes and No's being shouted from within the crowd, but the ones against her were in much greater numbers_

_"Hey, hey. What's at steak here?" Another soldier, Romano asked._

_"Good question there, Romano!" J.D replied, sounding like a Home Shopping Network salesman_

_"Movie night" he replied "If I win, we'll have little Miss Ocampo fetching us drinks and popcorn in an outfit of my choice, and let me tell you…" he threw his arms sideways and started moving his waist_

_"I'm a Hawaiian Straw Skirt kinda man!" the remaining troops cheered and laughed at the same time, this was going to be one show._

_"Well Rain? Any last words?" J.D asked while gesturing an invisible microphone at her._

_She rolled her eyes_

_"Blow me" she replied. J.D burst into a fit of fake laughter_

_"Ever optimistic" he announced "Well, time's-a-wasting. The blindfold please!"_

_Lisa Leang, better known as Medic, placed a black piece of cloth around the Latina's eyes and walked away, not before whispering 'Good Luck' in her friend's ear._

_"Alright…" J.D said, holding onto his stopwatch "3…2…1… GO!"_

_The female commando got on her knees and started reassembling her weapon. She was sonly done, five seconds ahead of time. _

_About to pick up a magazine and slap it in her weapon, she could tell it felt lighter than it should. Empty_

_She threw the magazine aside and picked up another. This one felt full. She slapped it in her weapon and pulled back on the loading mechanism, rising to fire._

_A two bullet burst escaped her MP-5's barrel, but there was something wrong; the recoil felt awkward, she realized her mistake too late_

_"Shit, blanks!" she yelled and ejected the magazine out of her weapon, picking up the last one and ejecting another blank round from the chamber_

_"Ten seconds left, Rain. I can already smell the straw" J.D taunted_

_"Shut the FUCK up!" she replied, clicking the safety to Auto and firing short bursts across the firing range. Nailing each target right in the chest_

_"Not gonna make that last one…" He added. Kaplan gave him an odd look. As much as he'd like to see Rain in a Hoola skirt, the blank magazine was out of line._

_"TIME!" he cried out and ran to examine the targets. Coming back with a gloom look._

_"I hope you can do the Hoola-Hoola!" Rain taunted him while grinning from ear to ear. She was happy with the fact she hit all of the targets, but J.D had a point; she fired the last burst too early to make the target._

_She turned her head towards Kaplan, who she saw, unknown to anyone else, kick a small pistol, equipped with a silencer, under a pile of used up targets _

"Done" Kaplan said, pulling her out of her daydream. She hopped on her feet and pulled her pants back up, shutting the black belt buckle as she did.

"I'm going to try contact the others" she said while grabbing an emergency radio that was permanently embedded to the wall

"You get some rest"

He thanked her and kicked back on the bed where he had just operated on her, keeping his eyes open, but in the meantime, resting his body. He placed his vest beside him and gave his aching back some rest while simultaneously keeping an eye on Rain, who was busy scanning the intercom's frequencies in hopes of making contact with her remaining squad mates

Suddenly, she picked up a channel filled up with static, but she could make out a human voice in it. She clicked several buttons in hopes of clearing the channel of static. It worked

"This is James Shade of the --Son Skulls. Can anyone hear me? Over"

If she could, Rain would've jumped and hugged the man. She picked up the transmitter and clicked it on

"Rain Ocampo, reporting for duty, over" she replied.

'One's eyes lit up, along with J.D's, the latter hissing out a loud "Yes!" and clenching his fists with glee; he knew that a little Biohazard couldn't take on Rain

"Ocampo, how're you doing there?" 'One' asked. He looked to his left, where his eyes met the two civilians; Matt was caring for the girl in the skimpy outfit, placing his hand under her head and smiling at her.

She returned a smile, but still had a distracted look in her eyes, like something was wrong. That is, aside from being locked in a sealed room, half a mile underground.

"Doing fine, sir" came the reply from the intercom's speaker "Had a little issue before, but Kaplan fixed it"

"Wait, Kaplan's with you?" he asked, a small ping of joy in his voice. After what happened before, he needed all the men he could get.

"That's a roger" she replied and continued "What happened out there?"

'One's smile faded

"After the initial Biohazard warning, the Red Queen seemed to have gone insane" he said and sighed.

Hearing that, Kaplan shot out of his bed and stood next to Rain, providing his full attention to his commander's voice

"Her automated defenses kicked in. Every single employee in the Hive has either been shot or gassed to death" 'One's deathly voice concluded.

Kaplan grabbed the transmitter from Rain's hand, and clicked it on

"What about Tag Two?" he asked. Tag Two was the codeword used to refer to the other four-man squad of the Crimson Skulls, used to patrol the lower regions of the Hive, including the Red Queen's chamber

"Before the radio blackout, they were ordered to move inside the Queen's chamber and shut her down" he paused for a second, trying to regain his monotone

"Apparently, there was a dormant defense system that Westlake didn't know about. Something called a Level Five Weapon System"

"All four died instantly"

'One' closed his eyes at the sound of Rain's swearing. He knew it was justified, as he also did it, while he heard them being sliced and diced by the weapon system.

"So what's our next move?" Rain finally asked, breaking the silence "We go back to the surface, right? Before the blast doors seal shut"

"Negative"

Kaplan's heart jumped up to his throat

"Uh, can you repeat that?" he asked, wishing he was hearing things

"I said negative" the commander's voice was loud and clear through the speaker

"After Tag Two were killed, the Red Queen initiated Lockdown mode. The blast doors were sealed shut and in order to reset the countdown, we need to reboot her"

"I've already planned out an attack route" J.D's voice washed over the communication channel. It calmed Rain down

"We'll rendezvous at Dining Hall B, then split into two man teams; one team will take the elevator down to the Queen's Chamber and take care of business, while the other team keeps her busy by cracking her defense system from the control panel at Dining Hall B"

"Me and Kaplan will head down to the Chamber" 'One' ordered "Rain, J.D, you stay with the civilians at Dining Hall B. We'll rendezvous in… Ten minutes. Move"

With that, 'One', J.D, Matt and the girl left the room. Those who were carrying weapons held them at the ready and began their journey towards Dining Hall B.

Three floors below them, Rain and Kaplan have also left the decontamination room and began making their way towards the destination.

As they were walking, Rain's grip on her MP-5 tightened. She kept swaying her head sideways, inspecting every inch of the corridor she and Kaplan were walking through

"Something wrong?" Kaplan asked

**Tracking system: Activated**

**Subject: Ocampo, Rain**

**Analyzing…**

**Vital signs: Optimal**

**Weapon: H&K MP-5 A5: Partially Loaded. Extra Clips: 8.**

**Threat: HIGH**

**Analyzing Voice Pattern… **

_"I just can't shake the feeling I'm being watched"_

**Match: Negative.**

**Searching Memory Bank…**

_"Reboot her"_

**Match Found: James Shade**

**Analyzing…**

**Vital signs: Elevated.**

**Weapon: G-36C: Loaded. Extra Clips: 6**

**Threat: EXTREME**

_"Shut down? Reboot? I think not"_

In various locations throughout the Hive, automated doors slid open with the sound of hydraulics. The white mist, generated by the massive quantities of gas that were pumped inside by the Red Queen, started pouring out of the room in a menacing manner; gas hissing its way out of the sealed rooms, filled with bodies, and out to the open

_THWACK!_

A pair of pale, cold, _dead_ hands reached out and grabbed the doorway.

(--T--)

He was alone. Detached from his mother unit, Echo-6, for a prolonged period of time.

Scanning his surroundings, he mentally sighed; another empty corridor, no directions whatsoever, just a long metallic corridor with doors that led into various offices and rooms. The thick glass windows of the rooms were pelted with bullet holes and an array of spider-web like cracks that raced across them. Papers, blood and bodies were scattered everywhere, making the once peaceful facility to now seem like a battlefield, with the soldiers wearing lab coats and expensive suits.

Although not actually being there, he knew very well what had happened. The internal defenses had gone homicidal and killed everyone. He could've also been just another number in the long body count, but luckily, was able to neutralize the two large machineguns that tried to end his life.

Rethinking the event, he thanked God for his gas mask. If there wasn't for it, he would've suffocated for sure, much like the other scientists and office workers that he had saved from the machineguns. Retrospectively, their deaths would've been much quicker if they were just shot to death, not left to die by the cold white gas like rats in a sewer.

His current objective was to rally with his fellow squad mates, but right now, that mission seemed rather hard to accomplish; something had caused all in-out communication to die, and his digital mapping equipment was destroyed during his encounter with the automated defenses.

Though nothing more than a human drone, following a planned mission that has been fed to his mind, he still had a certain amount of clear sense, and he knew when a mission was beyond accomplishing.

"_Screw the mission_" he thought and walked up to a fake wood door, kicking it open and stepping inside the office. Bodies were littered all across the room, lying on each other like a mangled deck of human cards. He shuddered at the thought and pushed it out of his mind.

Now sitting in front of a computer screen, he began typing furiously across the keyboard, accessing the many files and folders that were stored on the computer's servers.

His eyes scanned numerous three dimensional charts and schematics of the hive as he studied them carefully, memorizing and figuring out possible escape routes out of the underground tomb he was in.

Nothing

He looked at the screen with blank desperation. Every design showed the only way out was through the blast doors, and previous study showed him that the Red Queen had sealed the place shut.

Giving up on the idea, he tried accessing the building's thermal imaging system, to try and locate his two squad mates. He was busy trying to crack an access code when he heard something

Scraping

Quickly turning his head around, he peered at the grotesque pile of bodies. Mentally kicking himself for hearing things

He turned back to the screen and resumed his furious typing, trying to bypass the powerful encryptions that were placed on the system

He heard it again. Nails scraping against the floor tiling

Turning around and raising his weapon as he did, he spotted a figure on the farther side of the office, hiding partially in the shadows. It was a man, he could tell that.

The man was standing in an awkward manner, as if his left leg has been broken. He took a step forward, dragging his left leg along.

Indifferent, the soldier raised his weapon. He didn't have time for this.

He squeezed the trigger.

A three round burst escaped the barrel of his G2A2 and into the man's torso. The man was blown back, moaning slightly and fell down to the ground, motionless. Still completely indifferent, the soldier turned around and got back to work.

A moan

He turned around again to see the man once again on his feet. How could he be still standing? The soldier's hand shifted to a flashlight, mounted at the bottom of his gun and activated it.

As the beam of light shone upon the man, no, not man, _creature_, the soldier's eyes widened under the cool front of his gas mask. His lower jaw hung slightly, able to let out a short sentence that contained all his curiosity and shock within itself.

"What…the _FUCK?_"

(----------X----------)

End chapter two and tension's building up! As you may have noticed, I shortened out the chapter length, maybe I'll get more reviews that way.

Anyway, please, remember to review. It's not just for me, if you tell me how can I make the story better, then you'll enjoy reading it more.

…And besides, I'm handing out a free set of Crimson Skulls army fatigues to every reviewer.

Keep in touch, 'till next week, Bye!


	3. Interval Three: First Encounter

Another Interval joins the frey. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R or Resident Evil

Interval Three: First Encounter

Mission Time: 3h 14m 31s  
First Encounter Assault and Recon H.Q. Location: Classified  
--Level 6 Security Clearance Required--  
xxx-xx-xxxxx-xxx-x  
ACCESS DENIED

_Ring, ring!_

_Ring, ring!_

The silence that ruled supreme in the small metallic room was suddenly penetrated by a monotonous and rather irritating phone ring. Though not answered, the device persisted and ringed on and on within the walls of the empty room, the sound bouncing off the metallic walls and echoing within them

The room itself was fairly small in size; four metallic walls served as boundaries to the small living quarters, which, by casually inspecting the space management, were housed by an expert in the field of space managing; a table, bed and a large locker, all made of the same chromatic material, were positioned in locations across the room. The floor was so clean you could practically eat of it if you wanted to and the black bed sheets, which stood in a defining contrast with the rest of the room, were neatly pressed against the mattress.

The silvery locker, which was half opened at the time, revealed rows of pairs of underwear, rolled into bundles in order to save precious space. Below them were a pile of black, short sleeved tops, made out of a thermal preserving material, used to keep the body temperature in check, even in severe cold, or heat. The last shelf in the locker revealed a pair of black army shoes, perfectly colored in black, not a single spec of dirt on them. Whoever was sleeping in the room was a modeled soldier

Next to the locker, hanging from a rack embedded in the wall, were three items. The first; a pair of black army uniform that showed much resemblance to the Umbrella Commando's uniform, only they showed no identifying marks, like the Crimson Skulls' unit patch. Over the same hanger as the uniform, rested a clean black torso piece of light Tactical Armor; it's left side bore the identifying white rectangle, decorated with the four capital letters

F.E.A.R

On the second hanger of the rack, resting peacefully on its sling, was a single RPL Sub Machinegun; the weapon resembled the same structure as an MP-5, even displaying similar properties as the latter, such as muzzle speed and caliber, but specific modifications made by F.E.A.R to the weapon, such as changes in magazine size, now able to carry fifty rounds instead of the standard thirty, and a complete remodeling of the firing chamber, allowing a weapon with even less recoil than the original MP-5. All of these have made the Recoilless Penetrating Lightweight Sub Machinegun to be the perfect main weapon for them. The only part that wasn't completely black like the rest of the weapon was its Ameracham Technologies Reflex Sight, or ATRS.

The last hanger held a dual holstered weapon strap, made out of black leather. Both holsters were puffy, as they held within them a pair of AT-14 pistols.

He was taking a shower in his own private bathroom, linked by a black door to his room. The inside of the smaller room were porcelain white, shining as the florescent lights shone upon the white tiles. He was in his own world now, washing away the dirt that clung to his body after another rough day of training. He enjoyed the cleansing water running down his toned body, ridding him of all his aches and pains of normal life. Leaning against the shower's wall, he allowed his entire body to relax as hot water rushed down his back, taking bubbles of soap along for the ride and down to the drain. He only wished he could wash away the memories of his last mission with the same ease. The things that he had seen, the discoveries that he had made, the horrors that hit him like bricks in the face, time and time again. They just didn't go away. Ever.

Suddenly, his calm face was distorted with a look of curiosity, there was something weird about the water; they felt thicker, heavier and much warmer. He knew that feeling from before

It was blood.

White lights engulfed him, forcing his eyes shut. The first few times this thing happened, he found himself scared down to his wits, but after his last mission ended, he realized it was just a way _she _used to communicate with him. He calmly kept his eyes shut until the lights faded, and then carefully opened them, slowly.

He was no longer in his shower, or in the base for that matter. Quite simply, he had no idea where he was, but the place was a mess; it was a laboratory of some sort, he could tell that. He stood in the middle of a long, dark corridor, lights above him flickered on and off at random, giving him a momentary glance at his surroundings. He cringed

Bodies, many, many bodies

The human remains were laid across the hallway like the papers and documents that were littered as well. There were crimson splats of blood in all shapes in sizes across the long, dark hallway, windows and doors have been smashed and broken, debris laying all over the corridor, and the smell, the horrible scent of rotting flesh that penetrated his nostrils with every breath that he took, turning his stomach upside down like a washing machine. He wanted it to stop, to go back to his shower, to be safe, but his instincts kicked in, pushing him forward down the hallway. He forced his body to follow suit and slowly walked through the corpse littered hallway as lights flickered in white over his head, careful not to tread over any of the bodies.

Eventually, he reached the end of the corridor, a doorway flooded with more blinding white light; he could hear gunfire coming from within the light. What was she trying to show him?

He stepped through, to witness a horrible sight; there was a girl, dressed in black uniforms, much like his own, dark brown hair over her head, and a pair of frightened blue eyes, surrounded by a swarm of mangled looking men and women. There was something wrong with those… Things, he could tell that. They approached her, gaining ground with each passing second, closing around her like a noose on a death-ward prisoner's neck.

The girl's grip on her MP-5 tightened. Roaring, the weapon released a burst that dug itself into a man's head. It elicited a squirt of blood as the lifeless body fell to the ground with a blunt thud. Another burst came, and another body, this time a woman, fell dead, and another, and another, and another

"Yeah, that's right! Die, _motherfuckers_!" The girl shouted with confidence, bringing the gun to her shoulder and firing quick and short bursts into the bodies of the creatures in front of her. He could almost taste her fear.

"Who wants a piece, huh?! COME ON!" she yelled over her own gunfire, as if trying to scare the things, which just kept coming closer and closer

"Plenty more to go around, don't be shy! Ye-Heah!" she exclaimed in a flash of frenzied excitement, her lips curling into a sinister grin as more and more creatures fell in front of her . The MP-5 suddenly stopped, running out of bullets. Her eyes widened with panic as she quickly ejected the empty magazine and replaced it with a fresh one, slapping it nice and tight and reloading the weapon.

Two cold hands were placed over her shoulders, causing her to gasp in sudden shock

A feral growl escaped her lips as she arched the weapon over her shoulder while turning around, nailing the malformed woman that held her shoulders across the cheek with the butt of her weapon, causing a sickening _Crrrrrrrrrack!_ Noise to be heard. With the woman's neck broken, she fell down to the ground, motionless.

The girl quickly took out three more of the things in front of her while still giving off the same animalistic cry as she did before. She turned around and shot two more that fell down with a gurgling moan. She gave out a short chuckle

"Yeah, who wants seconds, huh? I'm barely breaking a fucking sweat here! Show me what you got, you ugly mother- AAH! FUCK!" she gave out a surprised yelp as a man whom she shot down suddenly bit her leg and pulled, hard. She was surprised by the sheer power of the bite and was taken off balance, falling down to the floor with those things swarming her. Their moans almost loud enough to mask her screams

"I WON'T GO DOWN LIKE THIS!" she cried out. Desperation and rage were surging in her voice as she pulled her other leg back until her knee reached her breast and released it with a powerful howl of pain, kicking the creature in the middle of his forehead and throwing him away with a large portion of her own bleeding flesh in his mouth, staining the floor with large splats of blood. The thing was blown backwards, hitting the other malformed men and women surrounding her with his lifeless body and causing them to trip and fall face first to the cold floor.

She gritted her teeth as searing pain raced through her injured leg, a steady stream of red liquid was flowing out of the open wound and onto the floor. It was attracting those things, which were now crawling on all fours to reach her, their mouths open, saliva and blood dripping from their open jaws.

In one swift motion, she reached for her thigh holster and pulled out a small black Beretta 9mm. She pulled back on the hammer and clicked the safety off, opening fire into the group in front of her. Each bullet met its mark, and one by one, horrible creatures fell dead in front of her

_Click, click, click_

She stared at the empty weapon in a dumbfounded manner, as if trying to load it with her blue eyes, but as she lowered her hand, one of those things jumped at her, biting her wrist.

She yelped in surprise and dropped the gun to the ground, trying to force the mangled man off her wrist, but sonly enough, more and more of them joined in. Biting her, scratching, _eating her_.

Completely covered in those things now, he could still see she was trying to fight, almost clawing her way out of the human mass that consumed her. Eventually, her body gave way as more and more things joined. All he could hear now were her screams

GOD! NO! HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE! HELP ME!"

He closed his eyes, not willing to see more of the horrific scene, and when he opened them, the room was empty. No blood, no girl, no _things_. Then he saw her.

Alma.

His mother, appearing as her younger apparition, was in front of him. She looked just like she did every time he encountered her; the red dress, the long dark hair that covered the most of her head and her pale, innocent face. He noticed she was holding something in her hand; a red and blue umbrella.

A door swung open, flushing the room with bright white light. Alma began skipping towards the light, eventually vanishing inside it. Reluctantly, he followed.

He found himself in a service tunnel of some sort; a short, rusty and grimy wide metal tunnel, sealed from one edge with an iron grate, and completely opened from the other. There was a small amount of stale water at the bottom of the tunnel and they splashed from once in a while as rusty pieces of the ceiling fell down. He was observing three people at the open end of the tunnel: two were civilians, and were holding each other, either for warmth or comfort, he couldn't tell. But the looks on their faces were broken. Displaying utter desperation. His eyes focused on the man and woman, hugging each other tight for comfort

"Who's gonna drop next?" A voice made all three of them, including himself, turn and look at the forth man; he was a soldier, dressed in the same black army uniforms as the girl he had seen before. If the civilians' spirit was broken, his face told that his spirit has been shattered, destroyed, bent beyond repair. He was fiddling with his large revolver, inspecting it from every angle

"I mean, first it was One, then J.D, and now Rain… " he wiped off a tear and sniffled. His mental stability has finally snapped

"Maybe it's you?!" he pointed his gun crazily towards the woman, who instantly jumped to her feet into a fighting stance

"No one else is gonna die, Kaplan" she tried to calm him, but he just replied with a crazed laugh

"Come on…" he said in a psychotic voice "That's not playing the game by the rules. Someone _HAS_ to die so the rest can move on!" his eyes were wide open with madness as he got up to his feet, the gun shaking in his trembling hands

"How about Mattie?" he said and pointed the shaking barrel towards the man, who jumped away, trying to avoid the barrel

"Kaplan, stop it!" the girl shouted, obviously scared. The soldier leaned against one of the rusty and grime infested walls of the tunnels and gave something that sounded like a sick crossing between laughing and crying

"Oh, I'm gonna stop it, alright" he said and gave his gun one more look; the silver stared back at him, so tempting, so easy, calling for him

"I'm gonna stop it all" He said and stuffed the metallic silver barrel into his mouth, feeling the sour taste of metal inside him mouth. He shut his eyes as a small tear escaped them

"KAPLAN, NO!" the man, named Matt cried. Too late

There was a silent '_Click´_ before the hammer hit the shell casing, sending the grey bullet screaming through the man's upper jaw and out through the top of his head, raising his hair and exploding out with red blood and brain matter as his limp body collapsed into the ground

The screams of the woman were not heard by his ears anymore, as if someone had hit the 'Mute' button. His sight was starting to get fuzzy, images spinning around him as he heard more screams and cries for help. It was pure torture

"You have to help them…" he heard his mother whisper through the screams. Her childlike voice was like music to his ears, calming him down a bit

"You mustn't let them die… None of them deserves to die" she continued. He wanted to reply, to ask her something, anything, but couldn't. He could never talk during those 'episodes'. That's how he called them. Instead he replied with a simple nod, to which she replied with a smile

He awoke from his trance to the sound of his cell phone ringing. Leaving the shower without even drying off, his feet left wet footprints all over the dark purple carpet and his body dripped all over it, tarnishing the purple color with darkening stains that spread all across it. He picked up the ringing phone from his table and answered it, but before he could even let out a word, his new commanding officer, George Collins spoke

"I hope you had enough time for R&R, buddy" he said in his usual rough voice and continued

"You're leading a new team into a code Lexic-Dark. No questions asked. I expect you to be in the briefing room in less than fifteen minutes"

With that, the line went dead.

For the first time in a long while, a smile crept up his face.

(--T--)

"_This_- - is Dining Hall B?"

J.D's voice still hung in the air as the group of six entered the room. Although not saying anything, the others agreed with him. Whatever this place was, it sure looked different from any dining hall they've ever seen before.

The room was huge, so big that they couldn't see its boundaries as they vanished in the darkness that surrounded them. Illumination in the room was very poor; a dim white and grayish tone that emerged from a series of lamps that hung from the ceiling, protected by iron nets. The floor was covered in a thick layer of white mist that seemed as thick as snow as their army boots treated through it. Pipes in various sizes ran across the misty floor, occasionally forcing them to slow their movement as to not trip over a large tube that snuck up their shoe.

Last but not least, there were tanks; large black metallic tanks that were scattered in rows across the room, like tombstones in a graveyard. The tops of several of those tanks were leaking with the white mist and it rushed down to the floor, slowly but steadily elevating the level of the mist, concealing more of the pipes and debris. Each of the tanks had a keypad attached to it, with nine buttons in numeric order and a sign that indicated in bold green letters:

**Environment Stable**

"The command console should be somewhere around here" 'One' suddenly said, turning all attention to him

"J.D, Rain, find it"

The two nodded and split up, vanishing into the darkness that ruled between the large tanks. It didn't too long though, before J.D's voice cried out through the room

"Found it!"

Rushing for him, the three arrived at his location in no time, Rain was soon to follow. The computer console was nothing more than a mere black table with a communications port, allowing an outside computer, or a laptop to gain access into the Hive's mainframe, mostly used to maintain the Hive's systems, or to keep track on data flow.

"Alright Kaplan, hook me up" J.D said. Kaplan complied, pulling out a small black laptop from a rear compartment in his vest. He turned on the computer and plugged it in to the system, using the white connection cable that's been sticking out of the port

The screen fuzzed to life, and was now presenting them with a three dimensional image of the Umbrella logo, spinning in the middle of the screen. J.D took over Kaplan's position and began racing his fingers across the many keys, typing one command after another, all with one purpose: disabling the Red Queen's main firewall.

After several stressing minutes, he leaned back in his chair, a satisfied grin resting on his lips

"Ok, we're in"

"Good" 'One' acknowledged and continued, now speaking to the two civilians, who were looking all around confused, as if their brains couldn't take all the information that's been bombarded upon them

"You two, stay here. Whatever J.D says, you do. No questions asked. We clear?"

The two nodded, but still seemed confused. 'One' mentally sighed and turned around.

"Rain" his voice boomed. She immediately turned towards him

"I want a full sweep scan of the perimeter; report back to J.D every two minutes, the communications frequency is U-1011"

"Got it" she said and turned to leave, but suddenly turned back to her commanding officer, her trademarked serious look on her face

"Rules of engagement?"

"Indigo" the man replied "There might still be survivors here" the girl replied with a nod and moved out, vanishing into the darkness and the mist that reigned between the large tanks. It didn't take too long before the rest of the group lost visual contact with her. She was all alone.

"J.D" 'One' spoke again. The soldier turned to face him, stopping his furious typing.

"Make sure to keep the A.I busy, I don't want anything, a-ny-thing, interrupting me and Kaplan. You got it?" his voice was deathly serious, it almost scared J.D

"Roger that" he replied and turned back to his keyboard. 'One' and Kaplan turned and walked towards the entrance of the room, and towards one of the many service elevators that can take them downstairs

Into the Queen's Chamber.

(--T--)

**BAM!**

The metal target rocked back and forth for a while, until resting once again on its hook, a small smoking dent was in the appropriate place for the target's nose. The target was a metal board, shaped in the proportion of a man's torso and head, with red bull's-eyes pointing towards its heart and brains. A silly smirk was spray painted on the target's faces, along with eyes and a black dot that resembled a nose.

Lowering her Tavor Assault Rife, the girl examined the long row of sixteen targets; each of them had a dent on a random location of the head. She drew a sigh of relief

"Sixteen headshots, top that, Sling!" she said in a rather cocky tone and removed her earphones, shaking her head violently from side to side to ease the discomfort they've put on her ears, her black and blonde hair flailing around in the process.

Finally halting, she allowed her hair to fall back on her shoulders and placed her bulky rifle behind her waist. Her body was toned, slim and athletic, tanned to a rather dark color. Two brown eyes in the color of honey stared at the man in front of her as her thick lips curled into a frown

"I honestly don't think I can, Maya" the man in front of her said. He was leaning back with his chair against one of the concrete corners of the firing range, a cigarette in his mouth. His facial features were sharp and fairly pale, in contrast to the girl's tanned and beautifully shaped face. His chin bore a small red and blonde beard that's been trimmed to a straight line, giving his whole narrow face a rather square look. Two emerald green eyes looked back at the girl and a sigh escaped his thin lips.

"Then again, thinking has never been my strong suit"

He got up from his chair, spitting the cigarette out of his mouth and stomping it with his army boot. His figure, which was hidden by a set of black army fatigues, was thin, yet he had a defined chest, and an all around look of a man who is working out regularly

Walking towards the middle position of the firing range, he took a short look back and eyed his partner; she now took his place in the chair, sitting back and looking at him. Although, she did not seem as cool as he was when he sat there, and was observing him nervously as he picked up two black pistols that's been placed on the position's metal trey.

He pressed a large red button on the position's right side with the butt of one of the pistols. A loud Buzz rang across the large grey room as the targets Maya had fired at fell to the ground, replaced by another set of metal boards with innocent smiles

A slight grin spread across the right side of his lips as he raised both pistols up and pulled the black triggers. Small blazes escaped the weapons' obsidian barrels as loud bangs roared across the room. Bullets screamed their way out of the two AT-14 pistols, heading along their destined trajectory. Golden shell casings flew out the top of the weapons as he tilted his body sideways to engage targets to his far left and right sides. His facial expression did not change in one bit during the time he stood there, firing his pistols. The same grin.

Lowering his pistols and placing them on the metal tray, he glanced at his comrade, who was walking towards him with a fairly nervous look on her face. He placed them neatly and reached for his shirt's pocket, whipping out another cigarette and lightning it up with a silvery lighter that was in his other hand

Once she had reached him, he punched the red button. A conveyer belt kicked in and reeled the targets closer to their appropriate positions. As they came closer and closer, Maya's mouth opened with astonishment

All the targets had large dents where their eyes were supposed to be

"Hmm, that makes thirty two eye shots. I think I beat you" he finally said, which only turned the heat on her already boiling temper. She was about to smack him across the face, but remembered she shouldn't. After all, he wasn't doing that to annoy her purposely, he was just good, ridiculously good.

"How do you do that?" she asked, earning herself a puzzled look from him "What makes you so fast and accurate?"

He took a long drag off his cigarette and blew smoke out while sighing thoughtfully

"Pure skill, rigorous training, or dumb luck, I dunno" he said and shrugged with utter carelessness

"Hell, I might as well be a fucking Cyborg"

A beeping sound made him turn his attention away from the girl and to one of the pockets in uniform's pants. He reached in and whipped out a blue cell phone at lightning speed, checking out the message than has been sent to him.

"Boss wants us in the briefing room. I'm heading down to get Tai; you pass through the gym and get Spooks, later"

With that, he opened the two large metal doors that lead in and out of the firing range, and left, leaving Maya alone with her thoughts. The girl tried to figure something out of her last conversation with him, but got nothing. To her, Christian 'Blind Slinger' Wesson was, is, and probably will always be a mystery.

She shrugged and left the room.

(--T--)

"Al… Al… Ali…"

Her lips quivered as she strained hard to utter the word. She didn't even know why she was tried to say it, having no idea what that word meant, all she knew is that the heavy smokescreen that's been dwelling on her mind had lifted a little, giving her that little bit on information and memory. She grabbed hold of that one little bit with all her mental strength, seemingly sinking her teeth into it and holding it for dear life like a shipwreck survivor would to a floating piece of wood

"Ali… Ali…?"

She looked to her left at the sound of the familiar voice. It was that cop guy, the one who found her at the mansion. What was his name? Matt. He gave her and odd look as his brown eyes stared at her thoughtfully, trying to figure out what was she saying.

"I don't know" she told him and smiled awkwardly, feeling stupid for muttering a three letter word that meant nothing over and over again. Leaning back against one of the crates, she sighed with frustration and sank into thoughts

"No wait, don't stop" his low voice reached her ears; she looked at him with puzzling eyes. He got up from where he was seating, a small black chair, and walked next to her, placing her hands in his own. She enjoyed the feeling of his warm hands around hers. It somehow made her feel secure and safe in the chaos the broke all around her

"Just focus, I know you can" he spoke again. She gulped his reassuring words with pleasure and closed her eyes, thinking so hard it actually hurt. She rubbed her temples with two fingers, massaging them whilst Matt sat by her side, placing his hands on her legs and smiling kindly at her.

"Ali… Ali… Damnit!" she swore, not able to direct her mind to where she wanted to. She felt as if she was scraping along a huge dark wall of rock with her nails, trying to break through to the other side. She could feel Matt's grip on her leg tighten as he tried to empower her

"Don't give up" he told her in his low voice "You can do it, I know you can"

Blowing out all the air from her lungs, she closer her eyes again and concentrated on the three letters, combinations raced through her mind from side to side as she tried to make out a meaning for the word.

"Alice"

Her jaw hung open, her eyes wide as if she'd just been shot. She stared into space for a few seconds, unable to either see or hear what was going on around her. She was in her own world now. The word rolled off her lips again, in a whispery voice, so silent she almost couldn't hear it. But it was there, she knew it. The word she had said, it was the most meaningful word that had ever escaped her lips for as far as she could remember. Her heart and mind were exploding with overflowing joy

She remembered her name

"My…" she started. Matt gave her a strong look through his earth-like brown eyes

"My name is Alice"

A huge smile spread across Matt's face, his pearly white teeth gleaming in the dim light above them as he once again took both her hands into his. She smiled back at him, the same perfect smile in the wedding picture and the one she gave him when he found her.

"Alice huh?" he said and chuckled "It's a beautiful name"

"Thanks" she replied. They were both so caught up in the moment they seemed to have forgotten where they were. Dining Hall B seemed to have vanished around them as they stared directly into each other's eyes, smiling from ear to ear like a pair of children.

"You mind turning the emotions down? Some people are trying to work here"

The manly voice made them snap out of their trance and back to Dining Hall B, where darkness and mist reigned supreme. The voice had originated from none other than J.D, who was still sitting in front of the computer screen, blasting away commands as his fingers raced across the black keys. He raised his left arm and pressed down on the communications unit placed in his ear, activating it.

"How're you doing there, Rain?" he spoke into the tiny microphone embedded in his black jacket. All this emotional babble coming from the two Civilians wasn't too amusing, and he couldn't just sit in front of a computer screen, typing his fingers off with nothing else to do.

He needed occupation.

"_Sector… Big Cargo Container number who-knows-fucking-what, Clear_" she replied with a static voice through his ear. He drew a smirk at the comment; the area was not marked in any way whatsoever, and she had to report her position back to him every two minutes, and as they both figured out; reporting positions over an area that looks entirely the same can be pretty difficult.

"_Any news?_"

"Actually, yeah" he replied and kept both hands on they keyboard, once again typing with all ten fingers

"Our Jane-Doe remembers her name"

(--T--)

"Whoopee- Fucking- Do" she snarled with false excitement "We can throw her a party when we get out of this hell hole"

"Resuming patrol. Check back with you in two minutes"

Frowning, she switched off her communications unit and once again shouldered her MP-5. The cold metal butt of the weapon seldom met her cheek and sent a cold wave down her spine, causing her to shiver. She swore at her own stupidity and zipped up her black Kevlar jacket and continued her route down the large isle created by two rows of the huge containers. The air was stale and foul smelling; it hurt her throat while going down and burned while going up, it was like breathing acid.

She took a few careful steps over a pile of pipes that's been spread across the floor in utter chaos, various sizes and lengths of metal rods that laid in confusion and disorder, hidden under the thick white mist. Passing the small pile, she found another obstacle in her path; a dark orange pipe, about the height of the middle of her shin, was crossing the middle of the isle. She rolled her eyes and placed one foot on the pipe, boosting herself over it, then came the other leg, down into the mist

And onto an unseen can in the white vapor

She gave a yelp of surprise at the sudden loss of her balance and fell backwards, her other leg leaving the pipe. She crashed into the pile of pipes and rods she passed before, raising quite a commotion as empty rods clinked and clanged in a metallic chorus loudly across the large dark hall.

"Shit…" she hissed under her breath as waves of pain flowed across her back, where she met the metal pipes and rods. She could still hear the echo of the noise made by the impact as she strained her body up and back to her feet. Swearing again, she practically jumped off the huge pipe that hid the can and kept walking down the isle.

"_Rain, everything's okay there?_" her earpiece asked with J.D's voice. She sighed with annoyance, wishing she didn't trip. She didn't like it when other people worried about her, she could always take care of herself. Always.

"Just peachy" she replied with obvious sarcasm "Had a little back to back with the floor and- Hold on"

She heard something. Her ears picked the slight noise that came from down the hall, inside the darkness and the mist

Metal rolling against the floor

Shouldering her MP-5 once again, she walked in short, slow steps towards the source of the noise. It was silent again; all she could hear now were the sounds of her own footsteps and the hissing sound made by the containers. Then it came again, a bit closer this time, and to her right. The noise of something metallic scraping across the floor as it's being rolled around.

She bit her lip, wishing so much to click the safety on her weapon to a mode that enables firing. She felt helpless while walking around with the safety on. It was stupid, why carry a weapon in an aggressive position when you can't actually fire it.

Putting those thought aside, Rain turned sharply beside one of the containers, following the noise with her ears as her eyes gave her nothing. She reached a sort of junction in the room; a place with almost no containers, and more than the minimal lighting offered in the rest of the place. Grey light shone from the ceiling and illuminated the pipes and crates that were placed in the illuminated space. She looked around nervously for the source of the noise, her entire body was as tensed as the springs inside her weapon, and all wound up and ready to pounce, attack or defend. Once again, the noise came, this time closer than ever before, coming from the mist and darkness, coming low.

Something was crawling on the floor, trying to sneak up on her.

She clicked the safety off and took aim at the approximate location where the source of the noise would be revealed to the light. The iron sight on her MP-5 was almost begging for a target as Rain's heart was racing in her chest.

An empty, silvery can of gas rolled across the floor, slowly halting and finally stopping as it made contact with the front of her boot.

Mentally kicking herself for being so scared, Rain lowered her weapon and drew a heavy sigh of relief. She swore at herself for not realizing how stupid it was to follow an empty canister of gas halfway through the entire room while leaving her patrol route. If she had done this during her time at the SEALs, she's be peeling potatoes and onions every night for a month, maybe more.

A hissing noise caught her attention. She raised her weapon once again; something, a figure, was moving in the darkness, in the same way the can came from. Deciding not to take action after her last screw-up. Rain just held her ground and waited for the figure to step into the light. Whoever it was, it wasn't too hostile. If the person wanted to kill her, they could've done it when she was busy chasing cans.

The figure finally came to the light, making Rain cringe inwardly; it was a woman, one of the scientists of the Hive, most likely. She was wearing a white lab coat which was now stained with grey and black smears. Her legs were in a strange grey color, much like the rest of her skin and her black shirt, hiding below the lab coat, was torn and tattered. The woman's head was down, allowing her short brown curly hair to cover the most of her face as she walked in slow, wobbly steps towards the female commando.

Rain instantly lowered her weapon, not wishing to frighten the woman who had obviously been through a lot by pointing a gun at her. She gulped hard and mustered the nicest voice her vocal chords could produce

"It's okay, you're gonna be alright" she told the woman in front of her, who was still walking towards her in her slow steps, hissing every once in a while.

"J.D, we got a survivor!" she called through her radio, notifying her teammate of her discovery. She looked up to see the dirty woman inches away from her, losing balance and falling forward. Rain didn't hesitate and reached forward, grabbing the woman with both hands and holding her close. The initial touch with her made Rain's skin crawl; the woman's skin was icy cold and clammy, it felt like touching a piece of beef at a meat locker. She recognized the symptoms immediately; hypothermia, a state where the body loses it's core temperature to a fatal level. If not taken care of, that situation can kill.

She placed her hand on the woman's forehead, wishing to make eye contact with her.

"You seem to be suffering from-" her speech was cut short as she saw the woman's face; it was grey, with small signed of decay across her right cheek. Her eyes, milky white, blurred and blue stared back at Rain in an empty manner. Her mouth opened with a hiss, revealing two rows of white rotten teeth and blackened gums and a wave of hot, rancid breath that washed all over the Latina's face.

She raised her head upwards and sunk her teeth into Rain's hand

(---------X----------)

I'd just like to thank **Tanya Adams 64** for reviewing my story again. Seriously, it means a lot to me, you have no idea how much! Once again, I'd also like to thank the rest of the people who read through the story and did not review, even though I asked nicely. LOL.

Anyhow, I tried releasing this chapter as quickly as I could to get started working on chapters Four and Five as soon as I can. Action fans, these are the chapters you've been waiting for!

Remeber to review! Bye!


	4. Entry One: Cold Reality

Five reviews guys! Five! That's One-Two-Three-Four-Five people who bothered to spare time to comment on my story!

I'd like to thank my frequent reviewer, **_Tanya Adams 64_** for once again reviewing my story. I hope you liked this chapter as much as you liked the last one! 

Additional thanking goes to **_BravoDoc83 _**who gave me a long and harsh lecture about technical and military terms in which I thought I understand, but it turns out I don't. Thanks for opening my eyes on that subject, and I hope you will find this Interval more to your liking. 

Last but not least, the author of the **Last Man Standing **Fanfic, **_Escape the Shadows_** had also reviewed. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'd like to thank you for allowing me to use names and such from your story in mine, and hope it will be inserted to your liking.

Now on with the story!

(----------V----------)

Disclaimer: Resident Evil and F.E.A.R are trademarked products of Capcom, Sierra and Screen Gems productions.

Interval Three: First Encounter  
Entry One- Cold Reality

Mission Time: Unknown  
Location: The Hive- Laboratory Administration Section. Floor Five 

Eyes, frightened, terrified eyes, wide with sheer terror, stared through two small black round visors located it the front of his gas mask. He breathed heavily; long, prolonged breaths, as if he'd just run a Marathon. His heart exploded in his chest, pumping blood and Adrenaline at a speed matching the pistons inside an engine. A wave of cold sweat washed across his body as he inspected the wound in his left wrist; the thick, semicircular line of red seemingly taunted him, slowly dripping onto his black and white glove and staining it, tarnishing the green color of his assault rifle as it did. He glanced forward, at the creature left on the floor in front of him, and shuddered with horror.

_"What… The FUCK?!" _

_The white light of the torch, located at the bottom of his G2A2 shone upon the man, no, creature, standing in front of him, causing an explosion of cold sweat to rush across him_

_It was once a man, but now, it seemed to have lost of all its humanity; pale, white skin covered the most of the thing's body, where it wasn't stained by red blood. The suit it once wore was tarnished and torn apart, revealing more pale and bloody flesh. Its left leg has been broken at the shin, a piece of bloody white bone erecting out of its pant leg and shining upon the torch's beam. Half of the man's face was missing, displaying a grotesque exhibit of red muscle and decay. Several of its teeth have been smashed out and missing, as red blood slowly dripped from its upper jaw to the lower lip, staining his chin and dripping down to the floor. A pair of milky blue eyes stared at him as an inhuman hiss left the creature's mouth_

_It started approaching him, limping on his broken leg and slowly, but steadily, closing the distance between them._

_He backed away from the thing, keeping his weapon always pointed at it. His mind hurt; he had shot the man three times in the chest, he HAD to die. Hell, by the looks of it, he seemed dead. And yet, there it was, slowly pacing towards him, two arms slowly reaching forward to grab. More hisses and snarls reached his ears, he flashed his torch behind the creature and was stricken with dread; the bodies, the same bodies he'd seen when he stepped in the office, the ones which were stacked up like the morbid deck of cards_

_They were getting up to their feet_

_His eyes darted left and right, looking for a way out of the room; all the windows and the door were behind the things, in his own stupidity he backed himself against a corner of the office. He was trapped._

_Fear was surging through his body like electricity, paralyzing him and numbing his mind, disabling him from thinking properly. All he could think of was the same image of the dead people, getting up to their feet. His mind played that in his eyes, over and over again. He felt the solid structure of the concrete hit his back. That's it; there was no more room for running. He reached the end of the line, and those things; whatever they were, were still gaining ground._

_Gritting his teeth and shouldering the G2A2, he unleashed a long burst of rounds into the leading creature's chest. The sheer force of multiple impacts sent it backwards and into the bodies of more creatures. It didn't even fall over like last time, just recovered and resumed its gruesome manner of walking._

_His mouth ran dry with fear. How could he withstand such a hit? Why wasn't it dead? What the FUCK was going on down there?_

_The man let out another hiss, snapping the soldier out of his trance. He once again took aim, but this time pointed the gun higher; the iron sights aligning between the man's eyes_

_He pulled the trigger._

_**Bam! Bam! Bam!**_

_All three shots met their mark; one made contact directly in the center of the man's forehead, snapping it backwards. The other two hit slightly above its left eye, penetrating through the soft matter and into the skull. The back of the man's head literally exploded as the bullets escaped, spraying the creatures behind with a massive quantity of red liquid that made them seem even more dreadful as it slowly dripped down their hissing mouths and to the ground. The thing itself let out one more deathly hiss, but sonly after, collapsed to the floor, the shoes of other creatures stepping on its back as they made their way towards him._

_But it was dead. He killed it._

_He quickly ejected the empty magazine out of the weapon, reaching for a fresh one and feeding it into his G2A2 Assault rifle. He clicked the safety to Semi Auto and activated a small Laser Designator located at the side of the weapon's barrel. A red dot appeared on the chest of the woman in front of him, but she didn't seem to notice that as she snarled at him, revealing two rows of yellow teeth._

_Raising the weapon, he placed the red dot right between her eyes and pulled the trigger. As the bullet escaped the lifeless body, her blonde hair was blown backwards, making it seem like the sun itself exploded out of her head. He wasted no time and fired again, taking out more and more of those things. The sounds of his gunshots rang through the room as golden shell casings flew out the side of his weapon, spinning around themselves like flowers in the wind and landing on the tiled floor while ringing like bells. His bodyweight shifted from left to right as he made sharp movements to aim at things that came at him from the sides. He was thinning their numbers quick, and soon the exit of the room was visible to him. He could make it out!_

_Placing another round into a red haired woman's face, he heaved a sigh of relief that seemingly removed a huge lead weight off his chest. It was finally over._

_A moan came from his left. He turned sideways, weapon drawn. Too late_

_A young redheaded teenager pounced at him with frenzied hunger and sunk his yellow teeth into his wrist. Teeth gritted in muffled pain as he let go of his Assault Rifle and forced the young lad off his wrist and to the floor. He pointed the weapon's barrel at him, the torch shone, revealing a young boy, not older than sixteen, wearing a bloodied white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His pale, freckled face distorted in rage and white, hollow eyes stared at his bleeding hand with obvious interest as he struggled to get to his feet, but a heavy army boot, placed on his chest prevented him from doing so. _

_The former teenager hissed in anger and struggled to get up, arms flailing aimlessly and mouth dripping with saliva. The soldier looked at him with a mixture of disgust and horror in his eyes and put the barrel of his weapon right inside the young man's mouth. Its teeth closed around it as it tried to tug and pull the weapon, as if trying to eat the metallic barrel_

_"Target Forty Six…" He applied a small amount of pressure to the black trigger and felt the recoil shift from the piece of metal to his body_

_**BAM!**_

_The lad collapsed to the ground, a gaping hole torn open in the back of its head, through which blood pored out in gallons, staining the black floor with a large puddle of crimson liquid and white bone fragments. It went silent, no more hissing, no more moaning. The only voice that could be heard was the soldier's own, low, computerized voice_

_"…Eliminated"_

He kept staring at the corpse of the young man with horror, not able to realize the situation he was in. Why were those…things, could only be killed by a shot to the head? Why were they coming back to life after being killed? Why did the boy bite him? He stared at the bite mark again as it slowly bled out. The area around the bite felt hot, and stiff to touch, it was also starting to itch. He stood there for a second, entranced, until a beeping noise and a glow from his arm caught his attention. Quickly unfolding the Mini-Com mounted on his right forearm, he saw the small black screen was displaying three green letters:

ETM

An Emergency Text Message, that meant his teammates were still alive. He used the touchpad with his spare hand and extracted the contents of the message; it would seem his two remaining teammates, Bravo and Charlie had managed to rally together in a predestined location and were now waiting for him so that they can carry on the mission. The message also contained a warning about hostiles that were in the area and could only be killed by a shot to the head. He sent a quick acknowledgement message and set to head out. Checking his vest, he discovered he had just two more magazines, three N6A3 Fragmentation Grenades and a single AT-S landmine.

Positively enough firepower to get out of this hellhole.

He stepped out of the office and back into the hallway, through which he originally gained access to the room. He took a cautious look at the blood and debris littered floor. There was something missing there, something he saw when he came in, but now was no longer there.

_The bodies_

Shifting his body into gear, he ran as fast as he could through the bloodied corridor. Alone, he might serve as an easy target for those things, but when he will be in the company of his heavily armed companions, they'd defiantly have a harder time surprising them, or even posing a threat for that matter.

He had to get to Lab Sector 5, fast.

(--T--)

Christian has been sitting in the briefing room for the past five minutes without much to do. He was waiting his teammate, Maya Cohen, kindly nicknamed 'Mai', to arrive with the other member in his team: Simon Arturo, whom everyone named 'Spooks'. He kicked back in his large leather chair, placing both his army boots on the large glass table in front of him. He drew a lengthy sigh of boredom and drew one of his AT-14's, ejecting the clip and examined it for a long period of time; closely inspecting each and every curve in the small black cartridge. His love for pistols was common knowledge among his team, much his ability to handle those small pieces of destruction. His accuracy and speed were almost notorious, and that alone gave him the privilege to be the only person in the entire base allowed not to carry a rifle of some sort.

He always found them too large and uncomfortable.

"Hey, umm… Christian, D-D-Do you have any idea who's taking point?"

He glanced sideways, following the female voice that talked to him. His gaze met a short girl with brown hair that cowered in the chair as his emerald eyes rested upon her. Some of her brown locks hid her two brown eyes as she looked back at him, while pulling her legs up the chair. Mentally sighing, he stuffed a cigarette into his mouth and lit it up with his silvery lighter and inhaling a massive quantity of smoke into his lungs, breathing it out thoughtfully and allowing the small web formations of the smoke to float around aimlessly until ultimately vanishing.

Her name was Tyler O'Neil, but all members of the team have previously nicknamed her Tai. She was the latest, and, if he put some thinking into it, the oddest addition to the F.E.A.R Strike Team; a shy, nice and young, very young girl at the age of sixteen, maybe seventeen, he couldn't remember. From what he had heard, she was a wiz with all stuff technical and cybernetic, able to hack complex security systems and knock down supercomputers within minutes, maybe seconds. She was very reclusive though; always keeping to herself, always quiet during conversations and times in which the team had gone out to have some off time outside the base. In fact, for the first week she was in the base, she hadn't let out a single word, but that was until Maya decided to step in. When the two began talking, there was an instant click; maybe because she missed female company in an all-boys team, nonetheless, the two became best friends in no time, always going everywhere together, talking and training, anything

"I think it's Spooks" he replied and placed one foot on the other, leaning further back in his chair and slapping the clip back into the butt of his AT-14. Her lack of confidence was a mystery to him; she knew that everyone on this team are the closest and most personal friends, and yet, when she talked to them, she kept stammering as if she was talking to one of the popular people in her high school. He mentally shrugged that thought off and took another drag of his cigarette; it calmed him for some reason.

The two black glass doors that led into the briefing room slid open in opposite directions, there were three people standing in the entrance, Sling recognized them immediately; the remaining three members of his team. He quickly swung his legs off the table as the three entered the large room and took their seats. One of them, a large, dark skinned man, gestured towards him with his hand. He slapped himself on the forehead and instantly took the cigarette out of his mouth, putting it out in a close by black marvel ashtray. Spooks hated it when people were smoking next to him.

"You should really think about quitting. That stuff can kill you" he said. His voice was low, masculine and rugged. It was as if the man had an aura of strength surrounding him

"I only smoke when I'm nervous" he replied, which earned him a round of looks from all the people present. The two always had this conversation whenever Sling was smoking next to Spooks. The gunman sat upright in his chair and stretched his body

"But you're always nervous!" his companion responded. By that time, Tyler was already stifling a giggle, those two never got old

"Yeah, well, I'll work on that later" Sling shot his comeback, which elicited a round of laughs from the table, but it quickly died down as Collins, the team's Commanding Officer raised his hands. Tyler giggled again, but tried to disguise it as clearing her throat.

Collins was a man in his late forties, his head was cleanly shaved, shining against the white lighting that emerged from the ceiling. He always wore large black sunglasses, no matter the time. He wore F.E.A.R uniform that resembled the pair 'Rowdy' Betters, the F.E.A.R team coordinator wore; a set of black uniforms, a flak vest and a small hat, both branded with the organization's logo.

"We'll start in a second" He said while getting up and walking towards a computer console, located in the far left corner of the room and activating it

"I'm just waiting for—Ah, there you are"

The doors slid open again and in came another soldier, already fully dressed and ready to head out. He was wearing the same uniforms as all the people in the room wore, an RPL sub machinegun slung on his back and he held a piece of Tactical Armor in his right hand, allowing his left to hold an ammunition vest. But that wasn't what attracted the most attention about his appearance

That title belonged to his face.

A black cloth mask completely covered the lower part of his face, concealing his feature in a perfect manner. On his eyes, large red goggles with a black outline and a thick rubber security strap that went all the way to the back of his head and top it all, a small black helmet that fit his head perfectly.

Tyler's eyes were attracted by the name tag on his chest. Usually, the uniforms F.E.A.R issued bore a small name tag, sewed into the left side of the uniform. The tag had the person's nickname written on it; hers read Tai, Christian's was Blind Slinger and Simon's read Spooks.

His read Point Man.

"People, I'd to introduce you to your new Point Man" Collins' rumbling voice boomed again, turning all attention back to him

"He's been specially assigned to us by my own request and will lead you in your next mission. You will refer to him only as 'Sir' or 'Sigma One'. Am I clear?"

The team of four nodded while the fifth soldier took his seat, posing himself in front of all the others. Tyler couldn't stop eyeing him; she looked to the left to meet Maya's eyes, also inspecting the new Point Man. Why couldn't he introduce himself was the first thing she wanted to know, the second thing was why hadn't Collins told them his name.

Did he even have a name?

"Good" Collins replied, clicking further on the keyboard. Suddenly, a beam of fine blue light shot from the ceiling down to the glass surface of the table. The five stared at it intensely as millions of small metallic grains appeared out of nowhere into the beam of light, composing a structure of some sort; it was made of twelve or so hexagonal rings that kept shrinking in size, like an upside down cone. They were all connected by a single pipe that went from the top floor to a large square hall in the bottom of the structure. Two small expansions left the square structure, going nowhere.

"Umbrella's research and development facility mark U-306. Codenamed, The Hive" Collins' voice said as the hologram spun around itself, allowing all the people present to inspect it

"Several hours ago, a team of Replica forces had taken hold of the seventh floor of the structure"

A blinking red arrow appeared next to the seventh ring from the bottom, the sign 'Point of Entry' shone next to it in white letters. Collins pushed it and the latter had expanded into three flat video screens, displayed the black and white dressed soldiers taking over the labs and offices. One of the screens presented the sight of one of the soldiers, gunning down an employee, practically blowing him across a table. All the people present glared at the screens with anger; since the Auburn incident, they learned how good Fettel's Replica forces were. Mai and Sling were the only ones of the Sigma team to have actually engaged Replicas, sent as a backup force to the F.E.A.R Alpha team that went in first. They knew all about what happened to the men and women of that team; deaths, horrible deaths. Two F.E.A.R members went down in unknown ways, not including two pilots that died during two rescue attempts and over thirty members of Delta Force's elite squad that perished throughout operations Initial Contact and Extraction Point.

"How many of these Test-Tube motherfuckers are we talking about?"

Tyler stared at Sling with shock; she knew for about four months, and throughout all that time, she never heard him say Fuck, not even once. He was mad at something, she could tell. It was more than just encountering these… Replicas, that's how Collins called them. There was something else, below the surface.

"Irrelevant. The insertion team was extremely small in size; ten, maybe less" He sighed "It's not the Replicas we're after"

"While attempting to take out the Replicas, one of Umbrella's teams, the Crimson Skulls, seems to have triggered an explosion in a level five Biohazard area. An unknown agent, codenamed Project T, was released into the air. Resulting an instant lockdown of The Hive"

Everyone shifted in their seats. The thought of being sealed shut in an underground tomb, with god knows what, made chills race across their skins. They couldn't help but to feel sorry for the members of the Umbrella team, they must be going through a living hell down there.

"Search and Rescue then, right?" Spooks asked. The older man ran his fingers across his bald head and sighed thoughtfully

"Not officially" he replied. The large man stared at him with shock. What in the world could he mean by that?

"From what I've gathered, Umbrella just wants us to retrieve their supercomputer's memory drive for analysis. When asked about their men, their representative regarded them as 'Secondary objectives, if any'"

"They're hiding something" Tyler said, stating the horrifically obvious. But coming from her innocent mind, those words made a great impact on the group. They all nodded in agreement

"Exactly" Collins finally said "And that's exactly why we're gonna handle the mission with opposing priorities; the mission's primary objective is to rendezvous with any surviving members of the Crimson Skulls"

The holographic screen was now presenting them with headshots of the Crimson Skulls' members, along their adjacent names

**James 'One' Shade  
J.D Salinas  
Rain Ocampo  
Ben 'Bennie' Kaplan  
Lisa 'Medic' Leang  
Boris Vankman **

**Jason Romano  
Robert Westlake**

"We're on a tight deadline here, head for the armory and gear up. The chopper flight to Raccoon city is about fifteen minutes long. Tyler. You stay here and study the blueprints of the structure. There has to be a way in, and it's your job to find it"

"I'm coming with you"

Her words hit him like a slap across the face. The shy girl suddenly stood up from her chair, all attention and eyes were on her. She blushed a bit, but still spoke those words.

"I'm just as combat qualified as everyone else in this room. I've been through all your training courses and passes with flying colors. I want to go"

She spoke with such vigor in her voice, such ferocity, that Maya's lips broke into a thin smile. She eyed her; the girl no longer seemed like the same shy child that always cowered behind her computer's screen and helped from afar, oh no, this was a completely different girl.

"You don't have to" Collins tried. As horrific as the thought was, he could spare a soldier, there's always another elite soldier in some unit that could be drafted as a replacement, but Tyler's keen ability was irreplaceable

"I want to"

Her reply was determined, craved out of solid rock and forged into cold steel. Maya's smile grew wider. She got up from her seat and padded Tyler on the back

"Come on then" she told her. The others were also getting up, heading down to the armory and picking up their ammo vests as they were leaving the room

"We've got work to do"

(--T--)

He took a long whiff as he entered the room. The heavy and distinctive scent hit him head on, it was smelly, rancid, even, one might say. But he enjoyed it. He walked into the large darkened room and stepped into the darkness and stench, reaching with his arm across the cold cement wall, feeling its texture to find what he was looking for, the small plastic knob that's been hiding from him in the darkness.

_Click_

His white teeth gleamed as light was poured into the room from above, shining across the large, black, oily, racks, across the green metal boxes and the small table located at the entrance.

It was his armory, and he loved it.

Simon 'Spooks' Arturo was a large man, by any standard. His figure reached up closer to the heavens than anyone else that he had ever met or known, throughout his life, people have always looked up to him, and not only because he was tall. White light shone across his chocolate colored skin, his small hat casting a shadow on his eyes and on his square jaw. He walked to the middle of the room and inhaled deeply, allowing the air to escape his mouth with a sigh of glee

"I tell ya, Sling, I love the smell of gun oil!" he exclaimed as the shorter man walked by him. He examined him; as nervous as ever, looking around in small, bird-like movements. The gunman turned towards his teammate with a crooked smile on the left side of his lip

"I just hope that's a pistol down your pants" he replied and chuckled. The larger man stared down with confusion to see nothing, and hear a wave of friendly laughter from his friend. He joined him and added a weak pat on the smaller man's back. Of course, 'weak' was a very relative term, as Sling nearly toppled over his feet with a yelp of surprise.

As he regained his composure, Sling got back up and turned towards his desired rack; Pistols and Light Firearms, whereas Spooks had gone in the opposite directions, searching for a shotgun.

"Let's see… Gonna need a pair of these, a couple of those…" He mouthed as he sorted through the long isle of black and slivery pistols. He picked a couple of AT-14's, the standard handgun for all F.E.A.R members and slapped them in two holsters on his custom made ammunition vest, on the sides of his waist, like a cowboy from those old westerns. Two 9mm Berettas went into an X shaped holster in the back of his belt. Last but not least was a single Desert Eagle, which he slowly inserted into his black thigh holster

"All gassed up and ready to go"

Spooks was across the other side of the room, sorting through an array of much larger weapons; Shotguns, Assault Rifles and heavier weapons. The long and black figure of an M-1014 Combat Shotgun already slung from his back as he continued his ongoing search through the rack from the proper weapon to fit the mission. His vest was already pumped full of shotgun slugs and buckshot rounds, the red shells gleamed inside his pockets as he slipped three US-449 Flechette shells into one of his back pockets. He always did that, even though he'd get arrested if he was caught using that type of armament.

He picked up another Shotgun, a VK-12 this time. The pump action shotgun had a much slower rate of fire than the semi-automatic M-1014; it was able to actually handle the US-449 without springing a malfunction. Slinging the weapon on his back, creating an X shape with the two shotguns, he turned to head out of the room when a spark lit up in his eyes, facing the weapons rack again, he bent down and picked up a large black case and carried it with him. The case was as big as a guitar case, made out of a solid plastic material and had a few words branded on with silvery letters

MOD-4 Rocket Launcher  
Use with Extreme Caution

He met up with Sling and they both left the armory, just to run into the two girls, who seemed whizzing and panting, taking deep breaths to restore it. Tyler walked past the two men and into the armory, carrying a list of weapons Maya had ordered her to pick up and ready. In the meanwhile, she threw two large bags at the two men. When they unzipped them, the two were surprised to find a couple of wet suits, a set of flippers and an oxygen regulator

"Scuba gear, thought we were going underground, not underwater" the gunman stated while staring at the contents of the bag, still looking all around confused

"They're our mean on entry. I'll explain on the way" she pushed her head into the small room and yelled at the top of her lungs

"C'mon, Tai, Chopper leaves in two minutes!"

(--T--)

"Get off me before I stab your ASS!"

Rain's face distorted in rage as she tried to pry the deranged woman off her, pushing and fighting against the weight of the crazed scientist as she toppled over her and pinned her against the ground. Her teeth were still sunk inside Rain's hand; between the thumb and the index finger, closing like a vice and sending waves of pain through the girl's body, which only increased her annoyance. Balling her hand into a fist, she sent it into the woman's bloody jaw line and blew her onto the floor; the deranged woman releasing a strange howl of pain from her lips as she rolled helplessly across the floor.

The female commando shot to her feet and inspected her hand. The bite was fairly deep, tearing through her skin and flesh to draw a large quantity of blood that ran across her cut-finger glove. She brought her MP-5 to her wounded hand and directed the barrel at the woman, who now staggered to her feet, slowly. Rain gave her a spiteful look with her two blue eyes, her lips curled into a shape of utter disgust

"Stay. Back" she uttered the words as if she was breathing through red hot embers. The woman seemed to have ignored her words as she slowly closed the distance in her odd, wobbly steps. Rain's lips tightened in anger as her bloody finger locked around the trigger of her sub machinegun

"I said stay back, BITCH!" she now barked in anger. Once again, the woman ignored her, hissing silently and closing the gap between them. The grey light from the ceiling provided excellent visibility; Rain could see every single detail about the deranged scientist, her own blood now dripped from the woman's lips, her milky white eyes shone from under her brown hair and her white clothing had been destroyed and dirtied because of the tumble she took across the floor. She hissed; a low sound that escaped her lips and made the female commando surge with anger. Everything about that woman annoyed her. She wanted to kill her.

The woman's feet carried her into the five meter radius Rain had mentally thought of as her defense line. The barrel on her weapon was lowered, aligning with the mad woman's left kneecap. Rain's eye darted to the safety as her thumb clicked it off to Single Fire mode

"I warned you" she said and pulled the trigger. The bullet exploded out of the black barrel with a small blaze, screaming its way into the woman's body. It penetrated easily through the kneecap's right side, shooting the entire leg with a spasm of pain that made it twist left, escaping through the other side of the leg with a blast of blood, bone fragments and gunpowder that merged together into a cloud of red vapor that emerged from behind her leg. The woman's head was bent down for a second as she seemingly looked at her blown knee, but soon came back up. Her white eyes flashed in rage as she bore her bloody yellow teeth and black gums at Rain, hissing in anger, her already disgusting face distorting in a way that almost made it impossible to look at.

Rain's face did not shift. Her weapon was now pointing at the girl's other kneecap, ready to go off again. The woman took another step forward, and in response, Rain fired again; blowing off her other knee and setting off another bloody cloud behind the woman's other leg. That seemed to have stopped her cold, she stood for a second, motionless.

And lounged forward

Rain was caught off guard by that move; instinctively, her thumb clicked the safety down two firing modes, to auto. She pulled the trigger with her bloody index and felt the weapon rattle slightly in her firm grip and against her shoulder as the last remaining eight rounds found their way into the woman's chest in a single furious burst of weapon's fire. The scientist was blown completely off balance, practically flying a small distance as a result of the multiple hits while screaming in pain, dropping beyond Rain's sight and into the darkness, crating a large rumble as her body probably collided against pipes and rods that were hidden inside the thick layer of white mist

She didn't even made it to eject her empty magazine before her comm. Unit went off, it was J.D, he sounded worried. She hated when he was worried about her, can't he understand she is well able to take care of herself?

"_Rain? What the fuck is going on over there? It sounded like gunfire!_"

She rolled her eyes, of course it sounded like gunfire; she fired ten rounds into that psycho cannibal bitch before she went down. She calmed herself down and responded

"I shot the survivor" she started, and before he could comment, her explanation came

"She bit me man, took a chunk right outta me. She was crazy"

"_Bit you? Where? Are you okay?_"

"Yeah, just a little—Stand by" In one swift motion, the girl exchanged her old magazine with a fresh one and pointed in towards the darkness. She heard something; like the old noise that made her encounter the mad woman. It was metal scraping against the floor, but much louder this time. It wasn't a can; it was something much, much heavier. She steadied herself and took a deep breath, there were more sounds; footsteps, feet dragging across the floor, it was everywhere, all around her. Making a full spin around herself, she scanned her surroundings; the darkness and the mist have both limited her sight range greatly, she was only able to see for about fifteen meters ahead of her before the darkness took hold.

The noises were louder now, it was beginning to scare her, elevate her pulse and shorten her breath. There were multiple attackers, all around her, and she couldn't see them. The scraping noise rose suddenly above all others, it sounded like it was inches away from her. She quickly turned towards the source of the sound. She was right; it wasn't a can this time.

It was an axe

The Red Crescent blade of the axe was being slowly dragged across the floor, eliciting the horrible scraping noise that reached Rain's ears. The long metallic handle shook slightly as it was held by the man who dragged the large piece of metal across the floor and towards her.

He looked very much like the woman she saw earlier; his skin was deathly pale, his white lab coat and pants were dirty and torn, sticking to his body as they almost seemed soaked with water. His left ankle has been broken, evident by his foot, twisting more than ninety degrees from the direction it should be facing, creating sickening crack noises every time he took a step towards her, his axe dragging across the floor.

But his face, his face made Rain's stomach churn with sickness, threatening to bring her lunch back to the surface. Half of them were burned off, crispy red and black flesh dangled in a completely disgusting manner from his bones. His eye has been missing from some reason, leaving a bloody gaping hole in his face. The girl cringed; entranced by the grotesque man's face, until more footsteps pulled her out.

She made another quick circle, her eyes widened. Those people were everywhere; she was completely surrounded by men and women that looked like the man with the axe; mangled, disfigured

Dead.

"_Rain? Rain, come in! What's going on?_" her earpiece screamed. She grabbed the collar of her jacket with fumbling, sweaty and bloody fingers, activating it. As her voice came through J.D's end, his face turned pale, she said the three words he never thought he'd hear her saying in his entire lifetime

"I need backup" she said in a frightened voice "Repeat, need backup!"

(--T--)

Beads of cold sweat rolled off the pale face of J.D Salinas. He couldn't believe his ears; the words he heard, the voice, it was completely unlike the Rain he knew. She sounded frightened, panicked; it scared him to no end. What could she have encountered that was so terrible to make her ask for backup?

"_We've reached the chamber, J.D; take the two civilians and go!_" A different voice came through the headset; it was 'One'. That was all the approval he needed to get; closing the computer shut and grabbing hold of his shortened M-16A2, he sprung from his chair and turned towards the darkness of Dining hall B

"You two, come with me! Go, go, go!" he urged them and took off. They followed suit, running after him the halls of the large hall, into the darkness and the white mist. Neither of them could see anything; running aimlessly through the darkness and being led by the soldier who was running in a much faster than theirs. He didn't even seem to care about them, only wanting to reach wherever he was running to, his M-16 ready to fire.

"Where are we going?" the girl, Alice, asked. Matt turned towards her, she couldn't have been more than two feet beside him and yet, he couldn't see her face as it was hidden in the dark

"Dunno" he replied while taking short breaths. He wasn't accustomed to running this quick and it was taking its toll on his lungs as they strained to pump precious oxygen into his bloodstream.

J.D stopped running as he reached what seemed to be a human wall; without trying, he easily spotted more then a hundred people standing there, something was wrong with them; they just didn't seem right to him, something told him that, like a small voice in the back of his head.

"RAIN!" he cried out at the top of his lungs, the howl boomed and bounced between the large tanks and containers, it seemed to attract those people, as they turned to look at him and began walking it his direction in small, slow steps. This cleared his field of vision enough to see the lone girl, standing in the middle of the large crowd of those men and women

Rain

"Stay!" he barked at both Matt and Alice and took off into the crowd, running towards the wall of humans that walked towards him. He brought his M-16 into an offensive position, feeling the coldness of the weapon's barrel against his fingers. He fired in short bursts of four and five bullets into the bodies of those people; they went down quickly, clearing him a path. He could already see Rain clearly now, she made eye contact with him and quickly released another burst of 9mm rounds from her MP-5 into the chest cavity of another man which fell down to the cold floor

"Come on!" he screamed and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her along with him out of the crowd, which now turned its direction towards the two soldiers and closed the distance with a slow but steady pace. As they ran, he saw that the path through which he gained way to reach his teammate was blocked again by those odd looking people. His finger pulled the trigger again, firing the last three rounds in the magazine at them and taking them down, Rain helped with supportive fire; taking out more of them to clear a larger path through which the two left, jumping over the mound of corpses left by their weapons. J.D reached to a compartment on the side of his ammunition vest to take out a fresh magazine and reload his empty weapon. As he did, he could've sworn he saw the people on the ground staggering to get to their feet, but shrugged that image quickly; they were dead, he shot them right in the heart and saw them fall down.

Alice and Matt soon joined them as they raced towards the computer console, sprinting in a crazy pace to get away from those people. As they reached they console, J.D was stricken with a horrible feeling; he couldn't remember where the exit from the room was. Adrenaline flushed his brain, he tried concentrating as the four stood there next to the computer data port, those weird men and women were gaining more and more ground

"Which way?" Rain cried; her face was pale and flushed with cold sweat. She reached over her forehead and wiped it off, leaving a small bloody smear instead.

"I…I can't remember!" He replied, stressing, panicking. He took a look to the left; the empty isle was now filled with more people, they seemed to appear out of thin air, more and more of them, walking towards them in their ever slow pace. His eyes darted to the corridor through which he thought they came, but it was now also crowded with them; he could hear their footsteps, but not see them.

Only one way left.

"That way!" he suddenly yelled, pointing his gun at the only way in which those people didn't seem to be. The other three nodded and raced after him as his feet carried him in an incredible speed he didn't even know he was capable of. They raced down the black isle, jumping over pipes that ambushed them in the mist, which was now about knee high. He always looked to the sides, between the large tanks while still running forward; they were there, converging on them

Boxing them in.

They reached the end of the isle; a small nook in the wall, confound by two steel walls and leading to a steel door with a black and white keypad on the side. Around the two walls, there were many metal crates in various shapes and sizes and two more isles that led into different areas of Dining Hall B. Seeing the keypad from afar, J.D hurried and pulled out a small square black object with a glass screen and two wires that ended with connection plugs. He motioned Matt to catch his attention and threw it towards him. The man in the cop uniforms caught it and looked at it in a puzzling manner

"Just hook it up to the keypad and hit the green switch! We'll cover you!" He ordered him. Matt nodded and pushed his body over its limits, running past all the other three and stopping near the keypad. He grabbed the two wires with hands trembling with fear and attempted inserting them into the sockets, but his hands shook too much, the plug kept hitting the plastic outline of the sockets, sometimes sliding out of his hands.

"Shit!" He exclaimed loudly and tried again, unaware of what was going around him

Rain hopped onto one of the large metal crates and landed in a crouching position, like a cat. She raised her weapon and opened fire into the crowd in long bursts that depleted her magazine in an alarming rate

"Reload!" she cried out and proceeded with the procedure, to her side, she heard Matt swear loudly, she could almost sense his fear and distress, but decided not to invest too much thinking into it, slapping another magazine into her MP-5 and loading it

"Gotcha covered!" J.D yelled back. He fell into a crouched position behind Matt and opened fire. His M-16 was much louder than Rain's weapon as it roared and breathed fire and lead at the horde that walked towards him. The barrel shook in his hand as one long burst after another were unleashed, bullets sometime missing their targets and hitting the tanks behind, penetrating them and making streams of pressurized gas to escape in the form of white vapor

"The tanks, watch the tanks!" Alice screamed in panic as she saw the white vapor escaping those huge black blocks of metal. She rushed towards Matt and tried helping him, but the device itself now slipped out of her sweat glazed hands and fell to the floor with a loud thud

"Shit! Shit!" she heard Matt scream next to her ear. He was completely freaked out by what was going on. She didn't respond, instead, ducking down to the floor and handing him the decoder so he could try again

"What's taking so long?!" Rain yelled over a burst of J.D's fire. She turned her head towards Matt to see him struggling with the decoder, the girl, Alice, was helping him, but they weren't able to put the plugs in. She turned her head back to the firefight and her eyes grew wide with horror

A man was only inches away from her face, opening his mouth widely, blood was dripping from his teeth as he growled and lounged forward

"Fuck!" she shouted in panic and sent a long burst into his head, blowing him back. More bullets hit the tanks, from both her burst and J.D's constant weapon fire

**Warning: Environment Unstable**

One of the tanks went off in a huge wave of shock and fire, lighting up the dark hall for a second in a blazing fireball that engulfed a large number of the men and women, burning them in an instant and knocking them to the ground. Alice screamed over the loud roar of the fireball in her own terror; some of those people were crawling their way towards them, still burning up as flames ate at their clothing and skin. It was mortifying.

J.D got up from his position and shoved Matt away from the position. He got tired of waiting for him to finish the simple task he gave him, his ammo was depleting rapidly, and it didn't seem the mass of people was following suit

"Move!" he exclaimed and quickly inserted the small metal plugs into their sockets. The hacking device started its work instantly, working to crack the key required to open the door

**Decoding. Please wait  
…  
…  
…  
…  
Complete!**

There was a silent release of air as the hatch on the door opened, allowing it to be opened from the outside

"See how easy that was?" he taunted Matt and swung the door open

Just to be pulled in by a sea of dead hands

"Fuck! No!" He cried in desperation as he was dragged into the middle of the room, hands were all around him, he couldn't move. He struggled, kicked, screamed, punched, but in no avail. Teeth were sunk into every bit of his flesh, his nerves screamed in pain and agony as blood was drawn from all across his body, covering the filthy mouths of the creatures that bit him again and again, tearing away at his flesh and skin.

"J.D!!"

Rain's head went completely blank; she jumped off the crate and rushed towards the door, reaching in and grabbing J.D's outstretched hand. She grabbed it firmly in a steely vice grip, his palm was sweaty against her cut finger glove, but she wouldn't let go. Teeth sunk into her arm, leaving bloody markings across her tanned skin, surging pain racing across her body, but she wouldn't let go, just pulled harder on his hand, trying to pry him off those things' grip

"Don't let go!" he cried at her, pleading, begging. She didn't answer, her facial expression displayed sheer determination as she just pulled harder and harder. She is able to save him, she knew it!

A woman's teeth suddenly sunk into her exposed wrist, striking a nerve cluster. Her entire arm shook with pain as her hand involuntarily released J.D's and pulled back, away from the teeth that were impaled into her wrist

His hand sunk under the sea of humans that gnawed at his flesh, she could still hear his screams as he fought them off, or at least tried to. She knew J.D was a fighter to the last second.

Tears broke in her eyes as she leapt and sent her hand into the mass again, trying to find him again, she had to save him. She cried his name, but none replied, all she could hear were his screams, and her own crying.

Suddenly, his arm reached up, bloodied and bitten, flesh and muscles torn, but it was his hand. She wanted to reach forward to grab it, to try and pull him out again, to prove she wasn't useless, to save her best, her only friend in the world, but something caught her eye; his fingers, on each base of three of his fingers were small, silvery rings.

Grenade Pins

She wanted to save him, she wanted to stay, not to see the pins on his fingers, but her brains overcame her heart. She turned her head towards Matt and Alice, her face and voice distorting with fear

"Close it!"

The two quickly complied; pushing the large steel block on its hinges and back into its former closed position. Rain pulled out her bloody arm and helped them, the bolts locked shut, and with them, every hope in either her brain, or heart to save J.D. Among Umbrella's military personnel, the UG-25A scattershot grenades he was carrying were commonly known as Shredders.

Three dull explosions came from the other side of the door.

(----------X----------)

Entry One of Interval Three had come to its end, and with it, so did the life of one, J.D Salinas, a brave, fearless member of the Crimson Skulls, who gave his life to save the ones of his companion and friend, Rain Ocampo and the lives of the two civilians he didn't even know.

Sorry about that Emotional bit, I just hate killing my character, in any fan fiction. I've personally related to the character of J.D throughout many Fics I've read on the site, and, well, felt bad for killing him.

On a different note; I've been granted with permission from Escape the Shadows to use names, lyrics and songs from his awesome Fic: Last Man Standing. All credit of songs, names and… Lyrics, mentioned with relation to Last Man Standing are property of Escape the Shadows, and therefore, all credit goes to him.

Remember to review. Until next week, BYE!


	5. Entry Two: Infiltration

I'd like to thank **Tanya Adams 64** for reviewing again with positive attitude. Hey, do you mind PM'ing me with your name, or at least your sex, so I'll be able to thank you in a more personal manner (…Not what you're thinking! ) It's just hard to thank an It. So thanks!

Disclaimer: Hell, I wish I owned Resident Evil or F.E.A.R, that way I'd have like a 200 man team helping me write this!

Interval Three: First Encounter  
Entry Two: Infiltration

Mission Time: 3h 42m 19s  
F.E.A.R Sigma team en route to Raccoon City

ETA: Eight Minutes

"Eight minutes guys, prep for deployment"

Spooks' voice boomed through the helicopter's Intercom system, as rugged and low as ever. He shifted in his seat, making a final check on his weapon; the heavy M-1014 shotgun rested neatly in his arms, its black color shining against the sunlight that penetrated through the four Plexiglas windows of the helicopter. He pulled a small pin, located at the base of the weapon's long barrel and took it apart, staring down the black tunnel, to make sure no spec of dirt, or burned out gunpowder obstruct the way of his ammunition as it leaves towards whatever targets he'll have to engage. Peering to the left, his eyes met with Mai; she was also running through a weapons' check, taking apart her Tavor Assault Rifle's firing mechanism and inspecting each and every single part closely and thoroughly. Though overall efficient, accurate and powerful, the large and black Israeli weapon was notorious for jamming if not treated properly, and she didn't want it acting up during intense gunfights. She finished up her inspection and slammed the slide back into the plastic butt of the weapon, securing it tightly as the mechanism slid into place with a reassuring and loud click

"Sigma three, ready" she announced. Her hands let go of the weapon as it rested on her lap, and reached under her Tactical Armor. She searched under her protective wear for a short period of time until her fingers made contact with what she had been looking for; she quickly pulled out a long green fiber lace that's been hung around her neck. At the middle of the lace, hung a square piece of black fabric, sewn around a small tin rectangle; her dog tags. The black fabric square which covered her tags had some sort of pin on it; it was shaped like a bat, with its wings spread widely, the metal bending where the animal's fine wing bones are meant to be. The inside, between the metallic bones was colored black, but it was now worn out to display fine lines of silver than went across it. Below the pin, two red digits decorated the tags' cover

13

She kissed the small pin briefly, and then turned towards Tai; the young girl wasn't paying any attention to what was going around; she was glued to her laptop's screen, the fade blue glow shining across her face and dancing around her brown hair, which was now bundled up into a tight ponytail behind her head. Her eyes raced across the charts and graphs displayed on the screen, still studying the building's blueprints, there was absolutely no room for error in her plan. The team was counting on her, Maya was counting on her, and she couldn't let her, or anyone else down. She made sure all the programs and files she needed were saved on her hard drive, clicking furiously on the keys and sorting through folders. Everything was there.

Someone nudged her. She looked to her right to see Mai; the older girl smiled at her kindly, showing a bit of her pearly white teeth. Tai smiled back at her friend and took a look at the object she was holding; the dog tags' cover was shining as sunlight bounced off it and into her eyes. She knew that sign, from all of her conversations with Mai after lights out. It was the insignia of Squadron-13; Israel's Naval Commando, equivalent to their own Navy SEALs.

Maya's Ex-Unit

"For luck" she said and gestured the makeshift necklace towards her

Tyler stared at the necklace with one eyebrow raised; being the down-to-earth girl that she was, she didn't believe in stupid things like luck, but the look in her friend's eyes was so welcoming and warm, she shrugged her usual approach to that kind of things. It couldn't hurt

"Commando training and superstitions, now we got everything covered" she said and quickly kissed the black pin. The older girl let out a chuckle and pulled her friend into a tight hug. She loved the way Tai treated things she didn't like; she didn't knock them out at sight, but first tried them, to see if they were to her liking, and then decided on which action to take. It was this very attitude that got her to be as good as she was with computers, or so she told her.

On the other side of the large helicopter, Sling was sitting next to the new Point Man. The gunman was preparing himself for the mission in his own way; checking, double checking and triple checking every single pistol he had on him. His fingers ran smoothly across the metallic weapons, checking for bumps, or dents caused by his constant firing. He opened the chamber of one of his AT-14's and ran a small piece of cloth through it; the weapon was already clean from the second he pulled it out of the armory, but that was his way to calm himself down before a mission. Holstering the weapon, he reached for his thigh and pulled out the lone Desert Eagle that he had kept there; the weapon was custom made, evident by a vast portion of the barrel and the hammer being painted in a Chromatic color. There was also encryption on the side of the weapon, where the serial number and model would usually be found

_A bullet never lies- D.H_

Sling sighed as he read the writing. Old memories floated up his mind, but he quickly put them down, back where they belong. He reached for a small, almost unseen, compartment in his vest and pulled out a small piece of tin from it. It was a part of a broken off dog tag, snapped clear at the middle. Several small stains of rust tarnished the silvery perfection, he could've cleaned them if he wanted to, but never did so. He kept the tag just the way he found it when his team moved into the Auburn City construction site, where he found the bloody remains of what seemed to be a human

**Douglas Holiday  
9226548**

"Holiday… This one's for you, unlucky bastard"

He sighed again and got back to cleaning his weapon, running neatly through every nook and cranny in the cold steel body. Holiday gave him that pistol the day he moved out of the squad and transferred into F.E.A.R, and he has been carrying it ever since. He called it his lucky pistol, his most accurate and best in his arsenal, even though he hadn't fired a single shot out of it in a combat situation.

"He was a good man, to his last breath" A voice startled him. His head shot left, nearly breaking his own neck; it was the new guy, that Point Man.

"What do you mean? Did you know him?"

Sling fired those two questions as fast as he fires his pistols. The man in front of him leaned back, away from him. Though his face were completely covered by the goggles and the balaclava, the gunman could sense he was uncomfortable with the questions he had pelted him with, but he didn't care; he had to find out what happened to Holiday, to uncover whatever it is everyone were hiding from him, the fate of Delta Force's 52nd Squad

"Yeah, I knew him"

The gunman's eyes opened up as wide as dinner plates, they sparkled with excitement as a smile spread across his face. Finally, he could have closure and find out what had happened to his friend during those hellish hours he spent down at Auburn City's war zone, where he and thirty more operatives were killed in horrifying ways

"Tell me what-"

"Now isn't the time"

The spark of hope in Sling's eyes now turned into a searing fire of hate. The man's raspy voice had hit him like a punch in the face, sending a wave of mental pain through his brains. He was about to protest and reply when his logic took over. Emotions aside, he knew the Point Man was right; they were about to go into a crazed mission, underground, with an entry plan that wouldn't be accepted by any other military strategist on the face of the earth, the last thing the leader of the task force needed is one of his men going emotional. He quickly nodded and holstered the Desert Eagle in his hands, now sitting still and staring into space.

"Three minutes!"

Spooks' voice now blasted into the air of the helicopter. The soldiers finished up whatever they were doing; slapping clips into their weapons, adjusting their tactical gear so it would fit perfectly. One final check on the diving equipment, and the helicopter already made its way past the Arklay forest and into Raccoon City's airspace, cleverly painted as one of the many Raccoon 7 News Choppers that circled the city in search of news and scoops. The machine crossed between the large buildings of the Downtown area, its reflection clearly showing on the glass windows as people inside waved at the helicopter that flew so dangerously close to them.

"Hey, what's that?" Tyler asked and directed Maya's attention outside the window, where in the middle of the Downtown district, some heavy duty construction work was done on the large and brown dome of the Raccoon City Theater; burly men armed with various tools and devices had entered the large hall in flocks, and if there wasn't for the loud and constant rumble of the helicopter, she would've been able to clearly hear the deafening noise created by those men as they took apart long rows of red chairs and began taking the plastic flooring apart.

"They're modifying the theater for the Last Man Standing concert three weeks from now. People have tickets booked three months in advance to this show. It's the last one on their tour, you know" Maya explained to her. The girl nodded with agreement; Last Man Standing was the name of a breakthrough band in the entire Heavy Metal genre, its members; Zach and Josh Hunter, Drew Walker and Adam Cheasting, struck the world of music like a stealth bomber loaded with nuclear weapons; the group basically came out of nowhere and sent shockwaves throughout the entire industry with its fresh and new perception of the Metal genre. They were known to more of a touring band than a recording band, spending most of their time on the road, performing and not in some recording studio, taking cracks at creating a new CD. It was also rumored that most songs for their first CD, the self entitled Last Man Standing, were written and composed during numerous hours on the tour bus and rehearsed during off times at crummy motels. One of the most common rumors said that one of the most intense and powerful songs in their album, Internal Combustion, came as an idea to the lead singer and the guitarist, Zach Hunter and Adam Cheasting, after seeing a man catch fire in one of their concerts. The rumor said that the two composed and wrote lyrics for the song during their break and played it as Encore in the same performance.

The younger girl's mind drifted into thoughts as the large helicopter glided skillfully between the large skyscrapers and over power lines. Finally, it reached its destination; a large white building, located dead center in the middle of the city. The building itself wasn't as tall as the skyscrapers; it only had three floors, but was much wider and spread across a vast area of the downtown section. Large, circular pools stood next to the large building, covered by white domes. Inside them, sewage water were processed and filtered through a complex system to be made usable once more. Umbrella never liked wasting any resource it possessed, including water.

"Fifteen seconds!" Spooks cried over the loud noise of the helicopter's rotor blades

"Fifteen seconds!" They all replied. The five soldiers hopped to their feet, grabbing their bags and securing them to their backs using two wide straps. A red light turned on inside the large machine's stomach, illuminating the group in a sickening crimson shade. Tyler took a quick look around herself; she was cramped up between Spooks and Mai's firm bodies, the latter's gun barrel was poking into her waist, but she decided to say nothing about it. Her heart was beating like a drum, pumping adrenaline throughout her body as a tremendous blast of energy flushed over her.

"Nervous?"

She turned her head in the direction of the voice; Spooks' white teeth shone red as he gave her a little smile. His usually dark skin was now blood red as his entire body was turned into a mixture of black and red as shadows cast across his uniform and his hat. She stared him in the eyes, smiled and nodded rapidly, her ponytail bobbing up and down as she did. The larger man chuckled in his loud manly voice and shook his head

"So am I" he replied "But don't sweat over it, we're FEAR, we know what we do" he turned his head back and hollered towards the other end of the compartment

"Isn't that right, Slinger?"

"I'll smoke to that!" he replied, eliciting a wave of laughter to explode from the rest of his teammates. Tyler laughed to, it was good to laugh before a mission, Mai explained that to her; it helps in getting rid of all the tension that's building up inside you before you deploy, and a tensed soldier will not operate as good a soldier with a cool head on his shoulders

The large sliding door of the false Raccoon 7 helicopter automatically opened with a loud scraping sound, about two feet above the floor of the building's roof. A sudden gust of wind blew into the compartment from the chopper's rotor, making the two girls' ponytails rise and flap as the violent current of air rampaged through the small space. Spooks and Mai were the first to jump, landing in a crouched position as the wind from the rotor's blades blew dust and small stones everywhere, several of them pinging off the bodies and weapons of the two commandos. Tai was the third to jump, descending into a kneeling position as the impact on the ground made shockwaves course through her adrenaline flooded body. Last came Sling and the Point Man, the latter signaling a thumbs up to the helicopter pilot before he took off again, heading towards the outskirts of the city.

"Purification Center, Sigma team has arrived. Open the roof access please" Sigma One radioed. As if by magic; a red door that stood in the other end of the roof opened up, revealing what seemed to be a staircase. The group headed towards the door, sprinting across the roof of the large structure. Running through the stairs, Spooks caught a glimpse of Sling, trying repeatedly to turn on his silvery lighter. The small metal cubical let out sparks and noises, but no fire

"Oh for the love of…" he heard his friend saying before stuffing the empty lighter back into his vest. The large man grinned; it was good to see Sling not smoking before a mission.

The staircase eventually took them to the first floor of the building, where they met a man who quickly introduced himself as Wayne Stark. He was about 30, Maya guessed, he had a pair of dull brown eyes, a styled and trimmed beard that covered the lower part of his face, and slick, black hair that went down all the way to the back of his neck, nearly oozing with hair gel. A two-piece blue suit was literally pressed against his slim figure, able to almost completely hide the white shirt he was wearing underneath. A white Umbrella Corporation I.D badge hung from his suit's pocket, it read his name and employee number.

"My employers have told me to grant you free access to the facility. Whatever you want, whatever you need, just name it" he told them and shook the Point Man's hand. From early impression, the man looked like an average hard working citizen. The team eased up with comfort at that thought, knowing they won't have to face slippery tongued politicians in their way to the mission. Tyler walked up to the man and shook his hand firmly, he gave her an odd look; she couldn't be over seventeen, shouldn't she be at school?

"Tyler O'Neil, technical specialist" she said. Her voice also told of her young age, it made Stark raise an eyebrow in surprise, but he played along. His long service to Umbrella had taught him that age wasn't a limit for as far as it came to their hirelings. He bent his lips in a small smile and introduced himself once more.

"We're gonna need a secure room with access to the U-Web, full access to the filters and pumping system, any crude particle removal unit in pipeline 3296 that's above Class 5 must undergo immediate shutdown"

Her barrage of demands had the older man shocked for a second or two as he stared at her whilst she depicted her requests at him like a trained and experienced soldier. Quickly regaining his composure, hoping that she didn't notice the surprised stare he gave her, he nodded with acceptance and drew out a small cell phone from his suit's pocket

"Room 250A is right down the hall; it should fit your needs perfectly" he finally replied and shut the small white device off. The group of five soldiers nodded and turned away from him, proceeding down with the directions he had supplied them with. Tyler mouthed off a silent "Thanks" before leaving, to which the man replied with a kind smile.

Room 250A was in fact just a small office, fitting for two, maybe three people if they squeezed in, surely not for a group of fully geared soldiers. Tyler took control of the room in an instant; positioning herself in front of the large and black widescreen and unpacking her laptop. She connected it with the larger computer and turned both machines on. Their screen lit up with the usual dim blue glow and monotonous tone that greeted every user as the login process was conducted. She pushed the computer's keyboard off the desk and placed her own laptop instead; now typing furiously at the keys and activating numerous programs. The remaining four troopers stared at the young girl with both interest and confusion on their faces, not quite realizing what she was doing.

"Whoever programmed the defenses on this thing knew what he was doing, I can't get in" she stated after a minute or two in which complete silence dominated the room. Everyone turned their eyes to her and in response; she slid low in her seat, sighing in frustration

"You mean you can't crack it?" Sigma One asked, a note of concern in his raspy voice. She gave him an odd look

"I can, it'll just take me a while; ten, maybe fifteen minutes" she replied. Maya drew a sigh of relief; she didn't want to make any last-second change of plans because of some stupid computer wouldn't follow the commands it was given. Sling ran his hand through his short beard and nodded

"Then we shouldn't all stand here and idol. I think the three of us can move on with the plan, Maya can stay with you, and once you're done, you two will join us. Doncha agree, sir?"

Sigma One turned his head towards the gunman and nodded, approving of his plan. He, Spooks and Sling quickly turned and left the room whereas Maya unpacked the contents of her Scuba Bag and began fitting her arsenal into an array of black, waterproof cases. The girl removed her ammunitions vest and army boots and quickly slipped into a tight rubber wetsuit that clung hard to her uniform. Two small yellow tanks, no bigger than small water bottles, hung from special compartments in her vest and were quickly connected by two grey tubes into the small circular Oxygen regulator. She clicked a small lever on the inside of the regulator and was happy to hear the silent whistle of pressurized air, everything was in working order. Once done with her own gear, she got to doing the same with her squad mate's; fitting her weapons and Palm Held computer into the waterproof cases and connecting the two small air tanks to her vest. She looked at Tai; the girl was now wearing a large pair of earphones, isolating herself from the outside world as loud and powerful guitar riffs echoed their way out into the air of the room. Her fingers raced across the black keys as she worked furiously to crack the system's defenses.

The entry plan she came up with was simple, yet at the same time, brilliant; during Lockdown mode, every single exit way of the Hive is sealed shut by either large blast doors or cleaver and almost sadistic defense systems, even the water intake tube, used to bring drinking water into the Hive from the Raccoon city water reservoir, which was her original idea, is blocked by a series of Titanium barriers to prevent either escape, or entry of an outside source, but that's when she saw the sewage output line, pipeline 3296. Figuring that the Raccoon City Water Treatment plant was always maintained by a group of Umbrella's guarding units, and that it was the only way to reach inside the large tube, they've decided to neglect heavy physical defenses such as Titanium barriers and such in favor of much more efficient, cheaper and deadlier measures; a large array of three thousand and seven hundred high frequency Laser emitters were placed inside the tube, constantly giving off a crisscross of death beams and could cut through every matter, mainly the human body. The catch was that the system had to undergo a yearly checkup process, handled completely by the Red Queen systems, during the check, all Laser emitters would be shut down for a period of fifteen minutes and then turned back on. A quick review of the team's physical statistics told the young girl that they could defiantly cross the half mile long section of the Laser defended pipeline, and from there, they're into the Hive's internal waste disposal system, through which they'll have to find their way and reach their objective.

Now all she needed to do is get past those defenses so she could depict the correct date and time to the Red Queen's computer, so that the computer would initiate its checkup.

"Got it!" she exclaimed with triumph and drew a loud sigh of relief. She pulled a small receiver unit from her pocket; a small square object with three short antennas and a USB port and connected it to her laptop, loading the hacking program she had used to break through the Queen's defenses into the miniature memory unit, and then connected it to the back of the large black computer, the device blinked red, indicating its connection status. She disconnected her own laptop and slipped it into a waterproof compartment in her vest, now fitting herself into the wetsuit like Maya did. The girl strapped her vest on and the two soldiers left the room in a hurry, rushing towards Decontamination Pool 12.

It didn't take long before the two arrived at the scene; Spooks, Sling and the Point Man were already standing next to the large circular hole in the ground, in which water could be heard splashing about. Mai and Tai stood next to the three guys and quickly turned to putting their large flippers on, the three men followed suit, not saying a single word. Once done, all five sat on the ledge of the pool, with their backs facing the water that splashed vigorously against the metal and plastic walls of the structure. Tai pulled out a black remote with only a single red button on it and stretched the device's long silver antenna. She glanced at the Point Man, who gave her an approving nod.

"Watches synced" he said in his raspy voice "Fifteen minutes from my mark" He looked at the rest of his teammates, making sure they were all ready to deploy and not making any last second arrangements. All four gave him a thumbs up, to which he replied only with his slow nod.

"Mark"

Tai pushed the red button hard with her thumb and placed the remote beside her, on the ledge of the pool. Suddenly, the noise from all the decontamination equipment seemed to have died down, silence quickly came, which confirmed that Tai's program had worked. The five warriors now leaned back, allowing themselves to fall headfirst into the murky water, creating five loud splashes and sending sets of white ripples that glazed across the black-greenish water, until the water again relaxes and sat still and quiet on the surface.

They were on their way.

(--T--)

The large square door rose up, poring white light into the darkness of the room. A second later, 'One' entered the room, the German G-36C Assault Rifle in his hands ready to fire. He scanned the room as he spun through it, prepared to engage whatever enemy to cross his way; the room was a small control center, apparently, large computer blocks covered the walls of the small room, blinking with red and yellow lights that gave occasional lighting to the black plastic cover of the computers. Three small screens stood at the end of the room, opposing the door, displaying numerous lines of computer processed data related to the Red Queen's chamber. S lone black keyboard sat neatly in front of the three screens as it awaited someone to sit before it and type.

"Clear" the team leader said quietly. Kaplan quickly entered the room and took position near the keyboard as he now attempted to find out whether the head of security at the Hive have placed additional defenses at the Queen's chamber. He skillfully scanned through numerous files and folder, going through the chamber's blueprints and through command lines the system utilized. He rubbed his hands with satisfaction and turned towards his leader, who has been standing all this time above him.

"I can't find anything" he announced "Whatever security system Tag Two encountered, it's not registered in the system, or anywhere for that matter"

'One's cold eyes lowered to stare at Kaplan eye-to-eye, making the team's medic feel as if the older man is staring down to the bottom of his soul. The team leader rubbed his chin with thought and looked at one of the screens, which displayed the inside of the corridor, leading to the Queen's chamber; the long white hallway was completely empty, not even a single reminder of the slaughter than went on down there as four of team members have been killed in an unknown way. He swore at himself for allowing them to go under there alone, without his, or any of Tag One's supervision. He knew Tag Two were the lesser trained members of the team, not being recruited from any army branch but from within the Umbrella Corporation itself.

_"We've entered the access corridor, sir, now proceeding into the chamber"_

_"Roger that, I-"_

_"Westlake, what the hell was that?"_

_"The doors must be automated, hold your positions, I'll open them"_

_"Romano, Vankman, talk to me, what's going on?"_

_"Nothing serious, sir, the door closed, Westlake is working-"_

_"What's THAT?!"_

_"Dunno, hold your positions and get ready to duck!"_

_"NOW!"_

_"Everybody okay? Medic? MEDIC?! Fuck!"_

_"Romano, report, what's going on?!"_

_"We're under attack, sir! Repeat, under attack!"_

_"By who? Who's attacking, Romano, answer me!"_

_"It's coming from the walls sir, It got Medic!"_

_"What did? ANSWER ME!"_

_"I- I dunno, something blue, I couldn't see-"_

_"Oh, shit, IT'S COMING BACK!"_

_"My hand! Fuck, my hand! We need extraction sir, NOW!"_

_"Vankman's down! Shit!" _

_"Romano, respond! Romano!"_

_"Tag Two, come in. Tag Two, COME IN!"_

_"Anyone?"_

_Silence_

"Something killed them in there" He finally said, catching Kaplan's attention.

"I'll go in alone, you man the consoles. Report to me of anything that changes, I don't care if there's a fly on the camera lens, you tell me"

The soldier nodded at his commander's command, he could literally feel the man's anger as he picked up his weapon and left the room. Kaplan watched the security display as it displayed nothing but the well lit corridor with the plastic walls. A few seconds later, he could see the outline of the large metal door as it swung open, allowing 'One' to enter. Kaplan followed the large soldier as he walked inside the corridor and stared at the camera. His rough facial features showed clearly at the screen. The man nodded and turned his head towards the corridor and walked away from the entrance, Kaplan's camera still following him.

"How does it look, sir?" he talked into his jacket's Comm. Unit, catching his commander's attention.

"So far, so good" his harsh voice replied. "How's your end?"

"All data streams are normal, no new system commands…" He paused, realizing he was doing nothing but to babble tech-talk at his commander

"...So far, so good" he finally said.

'One' replied with a nod and took several more careful steps down the hall. He walked slowly, surrounded by the silence of the long corridor as his boots thumped against the hard metal floor and equipment in his vest shook. He was fully alerted to his environment, anticipating a meeting with whomever or whatever had killed his team members. His grip on the G-36C tightened as his finger hugged the small metal trigger. Glancing left and right, his eyes registered nothing that could be interpreted as a threat of any sort; the walls were made of see-through plastic behind which were many white sources of light that shone across the hallway. He looked up to see a large metal grate the serves as ceiling, above which was a large air duct.

**CLANG!**

The soldier swerved on the balls of his feet to face the direction through which he entered. The large metal door he came through was now sealed shut; a series of locks that were visible to his eyes turned and screeched as the huge block of metal sealed the room shut.

_"Nothing serious, sir, the door closed, Westlake is working-"_

_"What's THAT?!"_

He could clearly hear the voices of his men inside his mind. It scared him, he remembered what followed afterwards. It elevated his pulse as his heart began beating faster and faster in his chest and small beads of sweat formed on his forehead, he was panicking, not a suiting thing to do for a professional soldier like him. He took a hold of himself and his fear, suppressing it and hiding, regaining his composure.

"Kaplan, what's going on over there? Talk to me"

Kaplan's eyes already darted between one screen and another; he was searching for an answer as soon as he heard the door slam shut. The screens displayed nothing, everything was nominal according to the data streams showed to him, but he decided to dig dipper, not trusting whatever data was shown to him.

"Working on it" he replied. His fingers raced across the keyboard as he tapped and clicked one command after another, reaching for the cybernetic bowels of the Red Queen in search of an answer. His eyes focused on the screen as he mentally secluded himself from the outside world, turning all his attention to the three screen in front of him as sweat began pouring down his face

He reached what he was looking for; the core, his eyes met with the raw unprocessed data as it was displayed to the A.I program itself, before it was processed by it and sent to the numerous screens and displays located across the Hive. As his eyes read the data displayed in bold black letters across the blue background, his jaw dropped

"Oh, shit"

**System Locked  
Subject: James 'One' Shade  
Process: Elimination**

**LEVEL FIVE WEAPONS SYSTEM ACTIVATED**

'One' strained his eyes to focus on the end of the hallway, something was happening; the lights slowly dimmed as two parallel points at the wall began emitting a strange cyan glow. The points of light started glowing brighter and brighter, until finally, the glow died down, but they were both connected by a single glowing cyan line that shone in a neon-like color

It came at him, fast.

"_It's a weapon! She's trying to kill you!_" Kaplan's voice cried in his ear. His eyes widened as he saw the beam of light racing towards his upper body, namely his neck. A cuss word escaped his lips as he quickly ducked down, throwing both of his arms sideways and assuming a kneeling position as the cyan beam went screaming over his head. He could feel the searing heat it emitted, realizing just in how much danger was he in. Adrenaline began pumping through his body, fueling his muscles as his breath shortened and became faster, it wasn't fear anymore, it was pure excitement.

"_Shit, it's coming back!_" the voice in ear cried again. The man's steely gaze looked forward to meet with the beam again. The bluish ray was traveling in the same path it used before as it raced down the very middle of the walls, but something troubled him; surely the people who had designed this weapon system would not make it follow the same pattern over and over again, there had to be a change. His eyes raced across the walls and ceiling to find any clue to the Laser's path when suddenly they met with a series of fine, almost invisible red lines that stretched across the wall, some were dim while the others had a certain glow to them. His brain clicked, unsure if he was right or not, he decided to take a chance and test his theory.

Taking several quick steps back, he waited for the deadly beam to come, and then jumped, locking his fingers between the rods of the metal grate above. As he thought, the beam drastically and rapidly lowered its path, had he ducked the way he did before, the beam would've severed his head clear off.

Suddenly, his eye caught one of the red lines lighting up in correspondence with his waist line. His eyes widened with panic as the beam suddenly changed its course again, rising high. He swore and brought his knees up to his chest, unleashing a kick with both his legs as the blue ray missed him just by a few inches again, severing a combat knife than hung from his belt. His fingers protested with pain against the abuse he was sending them through, forced to carry his entire bodyweight against the sharp edges of the iron grate

"Shut it down, Kaplan!" he yelled in a mixture of pain and anger. He was accustomed to fight humans, or animals, adversaries he could hurt or kill. He wasn't the type to dodge or run, more used to killing his enemies before they could even spot him, as he was taught and trained. This situation was completely not to his liking; battling an enemy which he couldn't even see and not able to stop, just avoid.

"_I'm trying!_" The response came. Kaplan's skillful fingers typed more and more commands, trying abort the computer's initial command; the elimination of his commanding officer, but it was taking too long, as with every step he took forward, he came across more and defenses and passwords he had to fight through. It was slow, but he was getting there. His eyes accidentally passed along the video feed screen, and widened with terror. Grabbing his communicator, he screamed into it with fear clear in his voice

"_BEHIND YOU!_"

Without even thinking, 'One' let go of the grate and pushed himself downwards, towards the floor. The deadly beam missed his palms by a hair's length, taking its toll on the man's body. 'One's face writhed in pain as he felt as if his palms have been sealed in a boiling oven. He gritted his teeth and turned around in midair, landing on his forearms protectors instead of his back. He let out a painful groan and checked his palms; smoke was literally rising from the red and scarred flesh as it still made silent crackling sounds.

Looking up, he saw the beam continuing its path towards the other end of the corridor and gave an audible sigh of relief. At least he'll have some time to prepare for it this time. He assumed a crouching stance; knees bent, body reaching forward, arms spread sideways with his burnt palms stretched open.

"Try harder!" He replied through gritted teeth. His hands were killing him with the searing sensation that coursed through them and sent waves of pain through his entire body. He saw the cyan glow forming, as another beam was being prepared, his entire body tensed; ready to either duck, or jump to avoid the deadly beam, eyes constantly scanning the walls for the red lines to tell him of the ray's pattern. The beam was sent towards him, but still no line indication. His body remained tensed as the beam slowly closed the distance, still having no defined course of travel. Suddenly, all the red lines lit up, like blood vessels across the walls that shone red. He mentally swore and turned his head down the hall, to see what happened to the beam. His jaw dropped

A grid of tight blue lines was careening towards him at an insane speed.

"Fuck!" he swore and turned around towards the sealed door, now running towards it in hope of clearing some distance from the deadly grid. He reached the metal door and backed against it; the crooked structure pained against his back, but all he could think about was the grid, which quickly closed the distance between them.

The blue glow was now close enough to shine upon his face, lighting in a sick bluish tone that caused shadows to play in a horrific manner. He gulped down and closed his eyes, finding comfort in the thought that at least he would be rejoined with the members of Tag Two, and be able to apologize to them for sending them to their deaths. He clenches his hands into painful punches, digging his fingers into his burnt flesh and braced himself, knowing that avoiding this death trap is impossible.

"Oh, shit"

(--T--)

"Got it!"

Kaplan shouted with panic in his voice. He looked at the screen in front of him; the data streams were now restored back to normal, he had turned off the weapons system as fast as he could, bypassing all of the Queen's defenses. He wiped off a sea of cold sweat off his face, restoring his breath and gulping down the huge ball of fear that's been lodged in his throat for those past stressing moments.

"I'm coming down to meet you. Let's shut this bitch down, sir" He said in a determined voice and a newfound smile on his lips. He turned to packing his equipment and heading out of the room to meet his commander, when something struck him, making a lead weight sink down his chest; 'One' has not said a single word since he heard him swear. He ran towards the video feed screen and looked at it; the man was still leaning, pinned against the large door, not moving.

"come in, 'One'" he spoke into his comm. Unit, trying to signal his partner, but no response. The cold sweat came back, rushing down his body. He gulped hard and tried again.

"Come in, 'One', respond!"

Still nothing.

Tears were starting to break out of the man's eyes. 'One' was dead, killed, and it was his fault. He wiped them off and turned to leave the room once more. Even if 'One' was dead, the mission still had to be carried out; the Red Queen had to be shut down so that he, J.D and Rain could escape that hellish place.

"_Next time you pull off a last second rescue, let me know_"

He couldn't believe his ears. The smile came back to his face as he ran back through the corridors and towards the door. Stopping next to the huge block, he quickly punched the code in and awaited the locks to be released. The door opened up with a loud screech and the sound of pressurized air being released as the hydraulics worked hard to swing open the large door. As the door opened, his eyes met with 'One's figure; the officer has been leaning against one of the walls, fixing his breath.

"One second later and I'd be pushing up daisies" he informed the overjoyed Kaplan. The latter ran towards him, and quickly caught a glimpse of the man's hands. He examined the burnt flesh thoroughly, much to his leader's dismay. Kaplan's eyes scanned his palms with keen attention to the slightest detail; intense level 3 burns, severe nerve and tissue damage. He couldn't treat him properly on these conditions, he needs a fully operational medical lab for that.

"Just sanitize it, and give me something for the pain" 'One' finally said. Kaplan looked up and nodded, quickly unpacking a white bandage from his vest, along with a small box, and a bottle of medical use disinfectant. He used a small pad to suck the liquid and pus that came out of the man's burns, once done, he opened the small box and spread a fine layer of yellow powder across the man's hands, eventually wrapping it all up with the disinfectant soaked bandage. 'One's face distorted from pain for a second or two, but he quickly regained his composure

"You should be fine now"

'One' nodded and thanked the team's medic, who kept living up to his reputation of being able to cure, or at least relieve any injury. The two exchanged glances and headed down the corridor, to the already opened door.

The Red Queen's chamber.

Kaplan was the first to go in. He went inside, gun drawn and quickly scanned the room; it was circular in shape, mostly darkened or poorly illuminated, giving off an almost mystical feeling. Computers stood everywhere, constantly humming in a monotone that seemed to fade into the background, their red lights shining in the darkness like tiny crimson candles that flickered on and off at random. In the middle of the room, surrounded by a circle of gold, stood a lone pillar of silvery matter, about in chest height. Security cameras were spread all across the room, constantly monitoring the inside of the Red Queen's, so to say, inner sanctum.

'One' quickly followed on his soldier's footsteps, also entering the room and sweeping it rapidly in search of outside sources. Finding none, he lowered the large Assault Rife in his hands and joined Kaplan, standing next to him as the man inspected the large pillar

"It's her CPU core" he said, catching the leader's attention "According to procedure, an infiltration team should come prepared with an EMP generator to shut her down"

"But we're not an infiltration team" 'One' stated. Until half a year ago, the Crimson Skulls were in fact, Umbrella's top Covert Ops team, succeeding in every mission given to the by their superiors from the corporation; from Hostage Rescue to Demolitions, the Skulls' record was undisputed, until six months ago, when during a raid they made on a facility taken over by the A.U.O, the Anti Umbrella Organization, they made a mistake; the demolitions team, which consisted of Romano, Westlake and Rain miscalculated the amount of C4 they had planted in order to gain access past one the AUO barricades, resulting the destruction of a key section of the facility. The three were supposed to be trialed and sent to prison, or at least dismissed from their unit, but 'One' stepped in, taking full responsibility for his team's actions, and being the vital asset that he was to Umbrella, they couldn't afford losing him, so they stuck him down there instead.

"That's right" Kaplan said, pulling a small black device from his pocket and activating it

"This is why…" He clicked a few buttons on the front end of the device, and then connected it to one of the computers in the room

"We're gonna improvise"

"**_STOP!_**"

A young girl's voice suddenly filled the room as she shouted with anger. Both Kaplan and 'One' turned, scanning the room for the source of the voice, but found nothing. One of the security cameras which were located at the corners of the room now turned to face the middle of the room and projected a long string of red light. The light was receipted by something on top of the CPU pillar. A bright blast of red light followed, but as it died down, Kaplan and 'One' stared at the pillar with amazement.

There was a little girl, at the age of ten, twelve at top, colored entirely red, now standing on the small pillar. She wore a dress and had doll-like shoes on her feet. She turned her head towards 'One', her short hair, which was secured by a bow to her head flailed a bit as her narrowed with anger.

"_You wish to shut me down, why?_"

She spoke in a clear British accent, her entire translucent red body shifting towards the male commando as she spoke. 'One' was about to reply when he was cut off by Kaplan, who was still standing by one the computers located across the room

"Don't answer her. Don't talk to her" he warned in an ominous voice "She's a holographic representation of the Red Queen, she'll deceive us, lie to us, she'll do everything to prevent herself from being shut down"

"_You want to reboot me, it would cause my systems damage that'll take weeks, maybe months to repair and complete. I at least deserve an explanation_" she protested in response. Kaplan stuck to his original idea, not replying to the hologram and went on with his business, messing with the connections in the back of one of the computers. 'One' on the other hand, looked up to the young girl's eyes.

"You've been a bad girl" He said and gestured towards the device in Kaplan's hands

"Consider this your spanking"

"_No, you don't understand, rebooting me would-_"

"I don't care" he replied coldly, keeping his eyes nailed into hers as he spoke with his harsh tone, the same he uses when he's angry with his team

"You killed all the people down here, you killed my team, and now, I'll hurt you"

He turned his back to the hologram and went on to stand next to Kaplan while the holographic girl protested over and over again, listing a large number of things that will happed should they reboot her. The two weren't listening, preoccupied with installing the makeshift device Kaplan had come up with. At long last, they were done. 'One' turned and left the room, now standing in the hallway and waiting for his teammate to complete the job.

"_Please_" the girl pleaded in her British accent "_I implore you_"

"Implore away" he replied coldly, remembering what had she done to Tag Two, he saw the Laser beams that attacked 'One' and the thought of his teammate being killed in that matter simply turned his stomach. He stood beside the queen, staring directly at her whereas the computer generated avatar was apparently looking at 'One', as her eyes were transfixed at the doorway that led out.

She turned her head sharply at him, surprising him a bit. Her red eyes stared at him as her entire face distorted with anger. Behind him, a screen turned on and displayed numerous lines of data that ran at an incredible pace. She eyed him directly and opened her mouth

"_You're all going to die down here_"

He didn't respond to her statement, and instead held the remote high and pushed the button.

_**Specter Program initiated.  
Memory Download Complete.  
Activation: 1**_

The screen went blank.

(----------X----------)

End entry two! I'm not gonna stop asking for reviews today, so please. REVIEW! Did you like the fact I kept 'One' alive? I just hated that he was killed off so early in the movie. I might as well inform you know, character deaths will not always follow suit with the ones in the movie! Some might be killed earlier, some later. Some might actually survive!

Also, did you enjoy the Laser hallway scene? I've had like five different versions of that until I found the right one!

Remember the key word: Enjoy!

…oh, and review please!


	6. Entry Three: Retro Perspective

O.M.G! No I'm not excited because I got tons of reviews or something, it's just that I now know **Tanya Adams 64**'s real name! And it's an awesome and cool one! Thanks for emailing me that, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well!

(-----V-----)

Disclaimer: Early reports indicate that as of 6:00 this morning, I don't own Resident Evil or First Encounter Assault and Recon

Interval Three: First Encounter  
Entry Three: Retro Perspective

Mission Time: 3h 53m 26s  
Location: Dining Hall B – Access Way IV

"_Level five security clearance…_"  
"_Top of your class, you deserve this job_"  
"_Expert in handling firearms and hand-to-hand combat_"  
"_Take 'em out, Alice, COME ON!_"

"_...Repositioned by Umbrella's orders…_"  
"_A Red level research facility, The Hive_"

"_…Working on a new viral weapon, something called the T-Virus_"

"_Oh my God…_"

Voices, they danced inside her head, yelling, ordering, and speaking to her through the darkness of her mind. She tried concentrating on one of them, but failed; every time she clearly heard one, two more joined the commotion, it was driving her crazy. Her chest heaved as she took in heavy gulps of air through her red lips; the audible breaths echoed through the now silent space of Dining Hall B as she took another one, trying to calm herself and her racing heart down, the latter was pounding hard in her chest, as if threatening to burst right out of her ribcage. Her eyes were wide open, the light blue orbs staring into the ominous darkness ahead of her as wide as they could be, both from the fear and the pain she was in, the pounding of her heart was actually beginning to hurt her as it now felt like a repeated series of punches being thrown against her chest.

_Drip!_

She nearly jumped out of her own skin as the sound hit her ears. The voices suddenly stopped ringing in her head and allowed the deathly silence to take her. Staring down, surprised at the sound, her eyes met with a wet circle on the floor, where a drop of trasperant liquid had met the cold floor and exploded to the smear that she now saw. Her hand reached up to touch her face and felt a cold and wet surface as her fingers caressed the surface of her cheek gently. As she brought her palm closer to her eyes, she could see the thin skin of sweat as it gleamed against the fire that burned away from her, a monument for the battle that they had just conducted there, she could see many little shining objects scattered all over the floor; numerous shell casings that reflected the burning blazes that went on far away from them, lighting up the darkness of Dining Hall B.

"Hey… Are you okay?"

Her eyes shifted to the left, slowly, meeting with Matt's familiar figure; the man was still dressed in his cop uniform, but has lost his shirt, now displaying a light blue T-shirt, wrinkled and decorated with a large V shape of sweat that went down from the collar and the shoulders. His face was also sweaty, seemingly glazed with sweat as it shone against the light made by the fire, his brown eyes were wide open from fear, Alice could relate to that fear. He came closer to her and took her hands into his own; she could now see there were little drops of sweat on his spiky brown hair as he tried to force a smile to his lips. She smiled back and opened her mouth to answer

"Yeah, I'm fine"

She lied; there was something going on inside her, she didn't even know what it was, but it was there. Those voices she heard, something had to cause them, it scared her out of her mind, but she hid it under her skin, not willing to cause any more trouble than they already had. The two stayed motionless for a few seconds, in which Matt had inched himself away from her. She could feel his body heat against hers, it comforted her for some reason, driving away some of her fears, but not enough of them. She was still terrified.

"We better get out of here; more of those things might come soon"

He nodded in agreement, planting his fist on the cold floor and using it to gain enough leverage to boost both him and Alice to their feet. The two stood and dusted themselves off the grime and dirt that clung to their clothes after the prolonged sitting, creating loud clapping noises that echoed through the deathly silence of the large room. Alice's gaze left Matt and was now directed in a different direction; she looked down, next to the large metal door they had just sealed a few minutes ago. If they were planning to get out, the last member of their group would be able to tell them where to go. In fact, she was the _only_ one of the three that actually knew the place.

"Alright Rain, where should we go?"

There was no reply, as if she ignored her, not willing to reply. Alice looked down, towards the door they had just sealed, her eyes met her.

Rain.

The female commando was sitting beside the large metal blockade, her back pressed hard against the cold door. Her black panted legs were tight against her chest, tarnished with grey grime that clung wherever it could, creating disgusting patterns of grayish color on the black fabric. The girl's head hung lowly, many strands of her dark hair covering her face and eyes, soaking wet with cold sweat, her facial expression told nothing, no emotion whatsoever, as if someone had thrown the 'Off' switch on her entire body. She breathed in low, silent breaths that could be barely heard, quiet pants that escaped her thick lips and told nothing of her emotional state. Alice looked at the girl with confusion, not knowing what to say, or do; in the short time she had to get to know her, Rain never seemed like the quiet type, always being the loudmouth member of the team, and she always had something to say, or protest about. It reminded her of the other one; the Latino she was with while they hid in the decontamination room, the one who opened the door Matt couldn't.

J.D

Her heart flinched as if it was gripped by a powerful vice. She couldn't even imagine what sort of torment the girl was going through, having to see her friend taken away from her by those things. Alice bit her lip, thoughts were racing through her head, disgusting thoughts that made her think bad of herself; something inside her, an impulse of some sort, was talking to her in a quiet voice in her mind, it told her to sit by the girl, to lend a smile, or a shoulder to cry on, to comfort her for her loss, to try and make her feel better. But there was another, a second voice, screaming in a much louder and harsher tone, ordering her to get out of that dreadful place, barking at her to run away, to survive. The two voices waged war inside her head, fighting over control of her body as she just kept looking at the woman dressed in black with a confused expression.

She got down on her knees and sat before the other girl, a sudden rush of cold climbed up her spine as her exposed legs felt the cold floor once more; it sent a jolt of wakening shock through her body. She peered to the left; Matt stood there, his eyes followed each of her movements, but said nothing, just an approving nod. Her two hands reached beyond the girl's knees and stroked her face, gently gliding across Rain's soft skin and lifting her head to meet Alice's gaze. The look in the girl's eyes made something crack, deep inside Alice's body; it seemed empty, her blue eyes just stared into space, as if seeing right through the girl in front of her.

"Rain?"

Alice spoke softly, as if she was talking to a small child. She feared it would annoy her, to be treated like this, she thought the girl might swear at her, or even try to hurt her. But Rain did neither, and just kept staring with her empty eyes into the darkness, some of the blazes reflected off her pupil, making it look like there was a fire going on inside her eyes, burning inside her soul. She closed her eyes and opened them slowly; sad, blue eyes that were emptied of all emotion and thought

"Come on, Rain" she tried again "We have to go"

_"Don't let go, don't let go!"_

_He cried at her, his face distorting with pain and fear as more and more hands grabbed him, nails scratched him, leaving bloody marks across his flawless face. Teeth sunk into him, tearing flesh and drawing blood. His screams of pain hurt her more than those people biting her arms as she tried to pull him out, grabbing hold of his reached out hand and holding in a tight grip, tugging against those things which were trying to take him away from her. She didn't reply to his cries, but her watery eyes told of her effort as she pulled harder and harder on his hand. Teeth penetrated her arms' flesh, hurting her, sending one wave of excruciating pain after another through her entire body, striking nerves and drawing blood that spread all over her injured arms like a macabre wave of red_

She didn't reply to the girl's pleads, his screams still echoed through her ears, as vivid as they were when she heard them. The pain shot up her arms again, like a serrated blade being thrust under her skin and digging hard, reminding her of her own incompetence, her failure to complete the one task that actually mattered

Saving J.D

Alice frowned; it was like trying to talk to a brick wall. The girl just sat there, deep in her own thoughts, lost in them, far away from everything that was going on around her. She had to get her moving somehow, she knew that if they stayed there long enough, those… things would come again, she had no clue as to how she knew it, but she did. The thought alarmed her, the memory loss she was suffering from was like a thick dark curtain inside her mind, blocking everything she needed to know, thoughts and memories slowly surfaced, but it wasn't enough, she saw bits and pieces, heard voices and saw places, but nothing of actual importance. What mattered now was to get Rain moving, and she had no idea how to accomplish that task.

An idea sparked in her mind, seemingly lighting a light bulb inside her head. She brought her red lips to millimeters away from the other girl's ear and whispered softly

"I'm sorry"

She reeled her head back and raised her right hand high in the air, closing her fingers and creating a flat surface with her palm

"No! What're you-" Matt yelped as he saw what she was doing. Too late

**_SMACK! _**

_Her face turned and distorted with muffled pain as her head made a near half-turn. Blood, sweat and spit flew away from her face in tiny droplets, smearing on the dirty floor and walls, only increasing the foul and wretched scent that filled the small room. She bit her tongue as a result of the powerful blow, her mouth tasted with blood; a sickening taste that stuck to her mouth no matter how hard she tried taking it out. A newly formed gash on her left cheek began oozing out blood that slowly dripped down her cheek, to her exposed shoulder in quick moving drops of cold liquid._

_She opened her eyes, squinting and adjusting them to the sudden flash of yellow light that washed over her and looking around the room, trying to make out if the had moved her somewhere else after she passed out. She was still in the same cursed room; small, dirty and smelly, the small place reeked of sweat and blood that mixed together to a horrendous smell that pummeled her nostrils. A single port was constructed in the wall opposing her, letting in the Iraqi sun's yellow noon glow, it washed all over the small room, lighting it in a mixture of yellowish light and grey dust that rose from the floor and stabbing her eyes with blinding yellow sparks. Her entire body ached from the beating she had been taking for the past three days, or maybe it was a week, she lost count of days and hours in that damned place. She tried to feel beyond the pain, trying to make out something of her surroundings; she saw a small table located in one of the room's corners, her army top had been lying there ever since they put her inside the room and restrained her. She flexed her leg muscles and was relaxed when her skin felt the usual comfort of her camouflage patterned army pants. At least they didn't remove those._

_They bound her legs to a heavy chair which was nailed to the floor by many metal bolts, a strap held her thighs together against the chair's seat and didn't gave way, no matter how hard she tugged. Her arms have been tied above her head, tied to a lead water pipe, she knew it was a water pipe because every now and then, they turned it on, raining a long and painful stream of ice cold water on her aching body._

_Right before they began interrogating her._

_A grimy set of fingers, each as big as a sausage grabbed her face, squeezing hard and leaving painful marks while her nerves protested in pain against the tormenting touch of the fat, smelly fingers. She couldn't make out the face of the man in front of her; the sun shone behind his large fat head, hiding most of it in a black shadow, all she could see with her tired eyes was the man's thick black mustache and his thick lips. He let go of her, allowing her head to freefall back to her chest, she was in too much pain and fatigue to even carry the weight of her own head.  
The man adjusted the ring on his middle finger, which was now red with blood before he turned to her._

_"Where is the rest of your force?!" he barked at her in English, heavily accompanied by an Arab accent, blowing a gust of reeking breath that smelled of onion and meat It made her stomach turn, she strained hard to hold whatever was left of her last meal inside, not willing to feel the hunger again._

_"Answer me!"_

_He screamed again and grabbed her face, puckering her lips and pushing hard on her jaw, it hurt her weakened body so much that she wanted to scream, but was too tired to do so. She tried to tug away from his grip, but could not, her fatigued body refused to work like it usually does. He threw her head backwards and allowed it to drop again, stepping back and once again hiding in the light of the sun that shone behind him. She opened her lips, letting out a long and painful breath_

_"F… F… F…"_

_Her voice was so silent even she had trouble to hear it, but the large man in front of her stood closely and listened. She struggled against her pains and fatigue that plagued her body and sat on her like a heavy weight of rocks, paralyzing her and numbing her body_

_"F-First Lieutenant Rain O- Ocampo, United States Navy. Six-Four-Five-E…Eight-Three-Eight-Zero"_

_She recited the line as if her life depended on it, giving him the maximum amount of information she was allowed to give during capture; her rank, name and personal number. He slapped her again, leaving another bloody trail that ran across her cheek. She said nothing, and allowed her body to calm down and regain some stamina that was so precious to her._

_"Bint'El Kalb!" he swore at her in Arab and walked away towards another end of the room. She could hear him open the door and cry out a name, unable to make it out, footsteps reached her ears, someone was walking into the room, she saw him enter; a slim man, wearing white. He had a large suitcase in his hands, which he placed on the table, where her top was. _

_"You remember Aziz, don't you?" _

_His voice taunted her as he opened the water valve, allowing a river of ice to fall on her head. She shuddered under the sudden rush of cold that swept her body, closing her eyes as the bitter cold penetrated each and every bone in her body. She knew the two men were indulging themselves at the sight of her naked body, shivering under the cold water, staring with hungry eyes as her nipples erected at the cold sensation that flooded her. It humiliated her to no end, she wanted to die, to disappear, but could not._

_"You are given a last chance, American, tell me where the rest of your force is and you will be spared"_

_The slim man, Aziz, spoke. His voice was slithering, snake-like. If she could, she would've killed him at the spot, in any way she could, but her restraints held her back, she didn't even bother struggling, not willing to waste anymore energy than she already had._

_She was going to need it_

_"First Lieutenant Rain Ocampo, United States Navy. Six-Four-Five-Eight-Three-Eight-Zero"_

_She could almost hear the man's lips curl into a sinister grin as he walked over to the chest and opened it, pulling out whatever he needed to use on her. She didn't need to look at it to know what she was about to go through, she already did._

_All she could do is hope to die before she gives up, she couldn't take it again._

_He placed two sponge-like object at her armpits, instantly, her head jolted up as a cry of pain escaped her wide open lips. Electric surges raced across her body, contracting muscles and burning nerves in a perfect orchestra of pain that went through every single inch of her body. Her head bucked from side to side as the scream seemed to last forever, the pain never weakened, always the same excruciating torture that plagued her muscles and pained her so bad._

_He stopped, her head fell down to her heaving chest as she took one heavy breath after another, trying to rid her body of the horrible pain, but couldn't, it was too much for her to bear._

_"The location!" The fat man demanded "I want it NOW!"_

_She couldn't even answer, but opened her mouth nevertheless_

_"First Lieutenant-"_

_"AGAIN!"_

_The pain wrecked her body again, it was destroying her; she couldn't take another set, she would break, she knew it. She had to get them to kill her._

_"Where is the rest of the SEALs force? TELL ME!"_

_"RAIN OCAMPO!"_

_She screamed back with stamina that seemed to come out of thin air, her eyes widened and she barked back at him, she could see it scared him a bit, and knew she was going to pay for that._

_Maybe if she's lucky, he would kill her._

_"AGAIN!"_

_Again, she screamed as her muscles burned with pain. She swore at her high threshold of pain, wishing to have already fainted, or died from a heart attack, but neither happened, she was forced to withstand the barrage of pain that was bombarded at her with no escape, with only the hope of not cracking and failing her team, hoping they would make it to their destination and succeed._

_"The location of the-"_

_"BLOW ME!"_

_Her mind was swimming in a pool of adrenaline, not aware of its own actions; she stared at the two men with a look that could kill in her blue eyes, hidden under a few strands of dark hair. She tightened her lips and snarled at them, a feral sound that came from the bowels of her lungs as she stared at them with so much hate and despise in her cold eyes. The slim man, Aziz, was about to shock her again, but was halted by the fat man's raised palm. He talked to him in Arab while he walked to the opposing wall and turned on a small video recorder, a television set went on, displaying the two men that stood in front of her in a grainy texture._

_"Open her mouth, and keep it open" he told him as he approached her, his fat, oily fingers reached for his belt line and began fumbling with the buckle._

_"I want the world to see what happens to Americans who invade our nation"_

_Her eyes widened as she saw what he was doing. She began struggling as hard as she could against the restrains, tugging and pulling, but they didn't give way. The slim man's hands reached to her mouth and held it. She protested, screaming "NO!" at the top of her lungs, trying to squirm away from his grip, but in no avail, the man was a lot stronger than he looked and she could do nothing but to struggle helplessly against the steely grip of the man._

_Tears ran down her cheeks as he preformed his deed, she wanted to die on the spot, to simply explode and be no more. She felt violated, tainted, and impure. She was disgusted by her own body. She closed her eyes in hopes of stopping the tears, but couldn't, they just flowed on and on, without control, down her cheeks and to the ground._

_Voices reached her ears, they sounded so distant and far away, like thunders that exploded in the heaven above during a thunderstorm, going off so frequently, it sounded somewhat familiar to the girl, she heard those noises before, the short series of explosions, and then another, and another. She recognized it all of a sudden, the realization striking her like a lightning bolt._

_It was gunfire!_

_The door suddenly exploded inwards, tearing off one of its hinges as two soldiers in desert fatigues burst into the room, their M-16's drawn and ready to fire at their hands. One of them unleashed a burst of rounds that dug themselves into the skinny man's head, blowing him backwards and away from her, into a pile of small crates that crumbled under his weight. She could feel her mouth was free now, and all the rage that built up inside her was set loose in a single horrific action_

_She bit._

_Her teeth sunk hard into the flesh inside her mouth, tearing away at pumping blood vessels and skin as she felt her jaws make contact with each other. The fat man cried in pain and backed away as if he'd been electrocuted, blood was staining his unzipped pants as he staggered backwards, still howling in agony. He was relieved rather quickly as the other soldier placed a bullet right inside his heart. The man had stopped running and fell to the ground, dead._

_She spat the bleeding piece of meat out of her mouth and allowed her head to hang low again, resting at last, it was all over. She saw two more soldiers enter the room and take up guard duty as they secured the room. The two soldiers that entered first began working on her bounds, one of them tore through the strap that held thighs together with his army knife whilst the other broke the chain that held her to the lead pipe with a set of Bolt Cutters that were laying nearby._

_He collected her into his arms and picked her up, she could smell the desert off him, it was pleasant to smell something different that the usual stench of the wretched room. She caught a glimpse of the unit tag that was sewn to the shoulder of his uniform and recognized it immediately; Delta Force_

_"Gimmie something to cover her!" He cried, his voice was manly, rough, commanding, soothing to her ears and relaxing to her aching body_

_"Browns, contact Falcon-Two, tell them we need a chopper prepped for Med-Evac, and we need it yesterday!" He commanded again, the soldier named Browns nodded and went on to using his communicator, she couldn't hear what he was saying as pain was swirling through her head like a washing machine._

_"They got Falcon-Three en route, J.D, he should be here in five minutes" the one named Browns said. In the meanwhile, she felt the rough texture of her army top being placed on top of her bare skin. The Delta-Man, J.D, began slowly walking towards the door, taking her along with him and supporting her._

_"Talk to me, SEAL" she heard him say "What's your name?"_

_She barely had enough strength to open her mouth, let alone speak, but she did, she knew what he was doing, making sure she was conscious, but she could feel the darkness and cold coming to her quick, from the middle of her body and spreading away like wildfire._

_"R…Rain" she finally let out, hardly able to speak, her legs were starting to fail her, she could feel them turning from solid columns into two putty-like pillars, she couldn't stay up anymore_

_"It's gonna be okay, Rain" he told her, even her ears were starting to deceive her, she heard twisted sounds and voices, her vision blurred, her conscious was slipping away_

_Everything turned black_

Alice gasped in sudden shock as pain shot up her arm. A black, cut-fingered gloved hand grabbed hold of her wrist while it was in midair, bending it backwards to send a painful spike up the girl's brain. Alice stared wide eyed and open mouthed at the figure in front of her; Rain's hand was connected with hers, her head slightly tilted upwards, her eyes rolled upwards, giving the girl a cold stare, and her lips curled into a shape of disgust.

"Don't you ever, EVER, raise your hand on me, princess"

She gritted her teeth as she uttered those words, bringing her head inches away from the Blonde's, tightening her grip on the girl's wrist while she did so, hurting her even further. She slowly got up, pulling the other girl with her, gradually pressing harder on the fine bones of her wrist, she _wanted _to hurt her. Alice gave another pained gasp to emphasize the pain she was in, but it couldn't bother Rain any less; once fully up on her feet, she threw the girl's wrist out of her grasp and allowed her to catch it and massage it, the pain should wear off in a matter of minutes if she continued. Rain turned away from the two civilians and faced the darkness in the two opposing isles they were standing in the middle of; one would obviously lead them out, but the final stop on the second one was a mystery she didn't really like to solve. Peering into the darkness for several moments, she stopped to think, planning her next move instead of jumping ahead.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to help"

Rain turned around and gave the woman a long examining gaze with her icy blue eyes, making the blonde girl feel as if she was looking deep down into her very soul. Deep inside, she knew that she shouldn't have snapped at the woman the way she did, but she wouldn't admit it, her ego was too bruised to take another blow and admitting another mistake. She nodded in agreement and turned her head to face the long dark isle again. She opened her mouth, somewhat even against her own will.

"If I'll need your help, I'll ask for it. Are we clear on that?"

Alice nodded, disregarding the fact that the female commando's face was turned away from her; she put a crooked smile on her face and walked closer to Matt, seeking his protection. The man in cop uniform did certainly enjoy the attention he was getting from the beautiful woman, but something else lingered in his train of thought; his own, personal mission; the mission of finding what Umbrella has been working on for so long in the Hive, what they have been producing, what kind of horrible weapon that even their own employees didn't know about?

He had to find his sister.

"Come on, we're heading out"

Her harsh tone met with his ears. He looked at her, noticing she was pointing the barrel of her weapon towards one of the two isles, gesturing him and Alice to follow her. He nodded and set his legs into gear, but just as they were about to leave, a sickening voice hit them; it made the skin on all three people crawl with disgust and detest.

A low, deathly hiss

Rain was the first to turn towards the source of the voice and was struck by a wave of malevolent disgust as her eyes met with the creature that stood there; it was the female scientist, the one who bit her, the same one who caused all this storm of havoc and disaster start.  
She stood behind a large grey pipe that reached knee height hidden the white mist as usual, the darkness and the fire played their tricks as shadows danced across the mangled woman; her entire outfit have been destroyed by many bullets that went through her body and left bloody entry and exit wounds, bloody circles and lines on her grey sweater and white lab coat. The hissing sound took a heavy toll on Rain's psyche; memories and flashes of the battle surfaced to her eyes; enemies that couldn't be killed, trying to eat her, surrounding her. She had to run

The death of J.D

A low, feral growl escaped her lips. Her finger locked around the trigger as she turned on the balls of her heels towards the woman. Her MP-5 spewed lead as a three bullet burst escaped its barrel towards the woman, impaling her chest with red hot lead, blowing the mangled human stagger backwards and fight for its stability. Her feet carried her forward, running into the mist, her gun still pointed at the woman. She fired again, the three bullet burst dug itself through the brains of the scientist, a large squirt of crimson blowing out where the three 9x19 rounds escaped the woman's skull back into the free world. Her body started crumbling and collapsing towards the ground, it was obvious that she was killed, but Rain's thirst for revenge was not yet quenched. She planted her right leg on top of the large pipe and jumped off, burying her army boot deep inside the dead woman's stomach as she came down. She didn't even notice her thumb, clicking the black safety on the side of her weapon to Auto, she just pulled the trigger.

The long stream of rounds escaped the barrel of the small German made weapon as it roared fire and metal towards the corpse's head. One by one, bullets made contact with the frail and brittle bone, breaking away parts of it as whatever remained of the skull after each bullet his bounced and danced like a frenzied dancer. Bullets ate way at the woman's flesh and bone, leaving nothing more than a bloody mush, literally drowning in a pool of red blood. Rain ejected the empty magazine and tossed it aside, the latter landing with a satisfying 'Thud' against the cold floor. She turned around to face the mezmaraized Alice and Matt, who had been staring wide eyed with fear at the aftermath of her vicious assault.

Completely unaware of the deformed man in the black suit who was only inches away from Alice's neck

"Behind you!" she cried. The two were standing in such a way that disabled her ability to gain a clear shot, she couldn't hit the man without hurting any of the two, maybe even killing them. She quickly drew the small Beretta 9mm which hid inside her thigh holster and threw it high in the air, towards the two civilians.

"Matt!"

Her voice caught both Alice and Matt's attentions. They turned towards the flying gun, Matt was reaching forward to catch the weapon, his fingers and arm stretching forward as he lounged towards the flying Beretta

But Alice was three steps ahead.

She leaped into the air, simply rocketing off the floor, homing on the small black weapon and heading towards it like a Surface to Air missile, streaking towards its target. Her hand was inches away from it as the weapon spun, she brought her finger inside the Trigger Ring, grabbing the weapon backwards, its barrel facing her. Her wrist jolted as her palm opened, making the black pistol spin in her opened hand, now facing in the proper direction. She twisted her body in midair, turning on an invisible axle and now facing the man, stretching her right arm forward as she took aim

**BANG!**

She landed into a crouched position; smoke was still rising from the pistol's barrel in her hand. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, she was amazed by her own body, asking herself how, or when did she learn to do that. She dropped the gun to the ground and looked forward, at the corpse of the dead man.

"H-How did you do that?"

Matt's voice hit her, she opened her mouth, but her Adrenaline flashed mind would not allow her to make out a descent sentence. She closed and opened her mouth a few times and at last shook her head, as if trying to shake off cobweb.

"I… I don't know"

The lights flickered off.

(--T--)

**RED QUEEN SYSTEM: RESTARTING  
SYSTEM PHYSICAL INTERIGTY: COMPLETE  
FILE STRUCTURE: SCANNING…  
ALLOCATING FILE: sys34.rqf  
ERROR: FILE CORRUPTED  
EXTERNAL CONNECTION DETECTED. CONNECTION I.D: Cain, Major  
TERMINATING CONNECTION**

**SYSTEM ERROR  
AUTOMATIC SHUTDOWN INITIATED  
RESTARTING: 30 Min(S)**

"Alright sir, we're in"

A girl's voice rang through the silence of the dark room. It was a forward computer position of some sort, obviously set up quickly to react to the situation; the position was held in one of the building's large conference rooms, a large mahogany table stood in the middle of the room, going from the two large wooden doors to the beautiful drapes on the other end. Leather chairs have been placed in equal spaces from each other along the table, each positioned in an opposing position to another chair on the other side of the table. The room was dark, a dim white glow shone from above and the drapes were hiding the sun from the outside, allowing only the glow emitted from the six laptops to spread a relative amount of light to the room.

Six women sat on the leather chairs, wearing white technician clothing, their hair bundled up into high ponytails and a pair of glasses decorated each of their noses. They were typing hard on their laptops, their fingers racing across the many keys, making a sort of a buzz to fill the room. On the largest chair, the one which faced all the others, where the CEO would normally sit, was Cain, his stony expression, icy blue eyes and blonde hair greeted the darkness of the room as he leaned on his chin, grinning slightly at the woman's comment.

"Good" he replied, his German accent accompanying the word as it slipped his lips. He stood up and walked by the woman who spoke, now leaning forward towards the screen and examining the data it displayed.

"What do we have?"

"Partial access only" her retort came "Most of her defenses are still on, if they hadn't rebooted her, I wouldn't have been able to get anything" she hit a few more keys with her nimble fingers, opening a new window that displayed more updated information and fed it to the German's hungry eyes. He examined the security footage from the Red Queen's access corridor, witnessing 'One's agility as the man dodged the Lasers with skill.

"The security team suffered severe casualties, sir" she spoke again "They have five dead, two wounded"

Cain nodded thoughtfully, running a hand through his blonde hair.

"And the FEAR Team?"

"On their way, sir" her monotone sounded through the room "they should arrive at thirty seconds, maybe less" she typed more lines into the computer, switching views from one security camera to another, but finding nothing. She frowned and kept on, but Cain soon halted her, already tiring from his employee's incompetence

"I believe you"

He said it in a frustrated manner, reminding himself to fire her once this inconvenience is done with The woman seemed to have sensed it as she lowered her head deeper into the screen, further from him. He scared her a little if she had to admit, being a cold, colder person than she usually worked with. He seemed to take no interest in the lives of his men, stuck down there, she was disgusted by it; what kind of a monster doesn't care for the lives of his men, even if didn't know them?

"Can you give me the status of Weapon System L?" he asked, his voice shooting her back to reality. She said nothing but proceeded to type a long series of commands into the keyboard. The screen now displayed the burning blazes that tore through Dining Hall B, lighting the darkness that reigned in it, giving the place an intimidating look. On the left of the screen, three large bars glowed red, a warning sign under them.

"Their cages are unstable, a breakout is expected"

"Mortality ratio?"

He asked as casually as one would ask about the weather, the woman was sick by the tone of his voice. He knew what those cages kept, and knew what would happen in case they break out. Her fingers raced across the keyboard and produced an estimate, considering whatever variables and constants she could find. Her eyes darted to the middle of the screen, where inside a large red square, it presented her with the result, blinking in a bold black font against the red background.

**Mortality Ratio: 100 Percent.**

(--T--)

Dining Hall B was quiet again, the fires had died down for some reason, allowing a thick layer of smoke to cover whatever was visible. The large tanks, which ever of them that didn't explode during the firefight, stood tall, still looking like grievous tombstones that erected from the dead ground of the place, the white mist was still pouring out, now as high as a man's torso.

**SLAM!**

A loud bang echoed through the darkness, somewhere, the large metal wall on one of the black tanks had a dent in it, the metal bending outwards.

_Something wanted out_

**SLAM!**

Another hit, the metal dented further, a small rupture was visible in the black material, white vapor slowly seeping out.

**SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!**

The barrier couldn't take any more abuse; the metal wall broke, its dented form falling to the ground, creating a further ruckus as more and more loud sounds were emitted from it. Suddenly, more hits could be heard, throughout the black space of Dining Hall B, more painful bangs of flesh and bones against metal.

Something got out.

(----------X----------)

Sorry I broke my promise of delivering a weekly chapter. Some… Unexpected things happened, forcing me into delay in my writing. Also, I had to rewrite the Rain torture scene like three times, cutting away and editing, my co-writer, who is also a close friend of mine, told me it was too graphic for my rating, so I made some changes. Maybe when I'm done with the fic, I'll release a Director's Cut (LOL!) version of it, showing what I had to cut.

Anyway, hope you didn't wait for too long and that you enjoyed it! Those who read and liked are welcomed to review, and even if you didn't like it, TELL ME! I'll create changes so everyone will!

…One last thing. My return times from the army base have changed. I'm leaving this wedensday and returning next Thursday, I'll try to release another interval (YES, Interval, interval three now came to its end), but I'm not promising anything, in fact, I'm pretty sure I won't make it, so don't expect anything. I will however, make it up to you in next week's interval. Promise!

'Till next time, whenever it is. Bye!

**  
**


	7. Interval Four: Contact

Hey now, won't you look at this, another reviewer! Welcome aboard, **Chief Ratchet. **I hope you'll enjoy this one as well, I'm gonna put some serious hard work on it! Also, be sure to check out F.E.A.R and RE at Wiki, it'll probably help.

And of course, a Fear No Evil chapter can't begin without me thanking my frequent reviewer who had already collected several cookies, a set of Crimson Skulls uniforms and my undying gratitude, **Tanya Adams 64**, so thanks girl!

Now then, let's get Interval Four on the road!

Disclaimer: Yep, still don't own F.E.A.R and RE.

(-----V-----)

Interval Four: Contact

Mission Time: UNKNOWN

Location: The Hive. Utility Duct A1. The Queen's Chamber.

A rat scurried its way inside the small, dusty tunnel. The small creature's pink nose sniffed the air, trying to smell, or sense danger as its tiny head bobbed up and down with every sniff of the dust filled air, large patches of it decorated the small rodent's brown fur, irritating its skin and causing an itching sensation. The rat shook its body, trying to rid it of the dust and succeeding as a large cloud of dust now lifted into the air of the utility duct. Taking a few cautious steps forward, the rat suddenly stopped cold, its ears perked up as it sniffed the air again. A noise of sort echoed through the tunnel; some kind of a low hum, a grumble of sort. It alerted the small creature; noise means danger! Its tiny brain worked, estimating the risk as the constant hum continued to reach its ears, rumbling from the other end of the tunnel it was in. It took a few steps forward, the nails on its paws eliciting silent clicking noises as they met with the thin Aluminum surface of the duct. More steps followed as the creature headed further down the tunnel. Lights from the grid below it reflected off its small pupil-less black eyes as a warm feeling suddenly engulfed its fur; a pleasant feeling in contrast to the usual cold that dominated its dwelling. It followed the warmth, neglecting the possible danger and continuing towards the soothing heat.

It reached the end of the tunnel, or the beginning of it, so to say; it came to a dead end above a large dark room with strange lights that came from inside it, casting a grid-like shadow inside the tunnel. The humming sound was very close at that point, but so was the warmth. The rat's head rose up as it sniffed the air once more, trying to determine if the area is safe, if it can stay next to the warmth, perhaps even make it its new permanent dwelling. It stepped closer to the heat, which radiated from a large bulking machine that was also the source of the humming noise. The machine was made of two large cubes placed on top of each other, lights and gauges were on one side of the top cube, but the heat and humming came from the lower, much larger one. Several black and red pipes stretched from the backside of the machine, vanishing into the walls of the tunnel, another one went right above it, running across the ceiling of the duct. The rat's instincts lead him to the back of the machine, where the warmth was at its greatest. It lay inside a bundle of the plastic pipes, green light radiated on the small circular hole, where they came out of the machine, making it comfortable for its small body, closing the eyelids on its black eyes and falling asleep, its chest slowly rising and dropping against the floor.

"YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE DOWN HERE"

A loud voice shot it out of its calm sleep a few minutes later. Its ears perked up as its entire small body tensed up like a spring; small black eyes scanning the surroundings and nose sniffing franticly.

Another loud noise came, like a powerful clap. The creature squeaked in panic as its small legs carried him with great speed; past the pipes, the machine and back into the air duct. Behind it, lights began shutting down, casting the small room it was above into utter darkness. More clapping noises could be heard as more and more lights were turned off on the rat's way. Back in the nook above the Queen's Chamber, the large machine; Power Relay Station A1 began stammering, its constant hum starting to sound cut off, the heat emitted from it beginning to die down. It didn't take long before the machine gave way completely; going silent and cold, power not running through it anymore.

There was darkness.

(--T--)

Mission Time: 4h 1m 15s  
Location: Red Queen Chamber- Access Corridor.

A silent exhaling blew out of 'One's mouth as he sprung his G-36C to his hands and propped it to his shoulder. He twisted on the balls of his heels, scanning his surroundings, weapon at a ready position; spinning around, weapon scanning high and low into the dark hallway. This sudden lights-out had taken the man by surprise, making him jump into the ready stance by an instinct, cautious eyes piercing through the darkness that suddenly engulfed him. His bandaged hand reached for one of the many pockets in his vest and opened it, revealing a small black cylinder looking object which was colored black and had a couple of buttons on its side. 'One' quickly pulled it out and placed the device on his right eye, securing it tightly with a thick rubber band that went on his forehead and had a metallic piece on it, a certain rack for the small device. His finger reached forward and pushed one of the two buttons on the device; the front lens on the device turned into a bright green color as the commander's field of vision returned to him, now colored in emerald green.

He looked back and met Kaplan; the shorter man's naked eyes were painted in a bright green color, a known issue while using Night Vision equipment, but not an important one. The team's medic exited the Queen's Chamber; the black remote which he had used to reboot her was still in his hands as he approached him slowly and stood next to him.

Kaplan searched his vest while the taller man was standing next to him, waiting impatiently. His hands move through every singly pocket and compartment in his vest, but got nothing. He sighed with annoyance, cursing at himself as he remembered giving J.D his UV-21 'Raven's Eye' Night Vision scope, thinking he wouldn't ever use it. Besides, he needed that extra space in his vest for more Disinfectant.

"I don't have one, sir. I think I gave it to J.D two days ago" the shorter man finally said, expecting his commander to yell at him, or at least express his annoyance in one way or another. He was more than surprised when 'One' turned to him, his one green eye shining through the darkness of the hallway.

"Good" he replied "I took mine from Rain after my own got damaged"

'One' began walking, mentally sighing with relief. He could now relax, knowing his other two teammates weren't completely lost in the dark. Had Kaplan not gave his scope to J.D, the other half of his team would now be trapped inside a maze of darkness, left alone at Dining Hall B. He finally left the cursed corridor where the Lasers attacked him and felt like a giant weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He looked back to see if Kaplan was following him, the team's medic was indeed there; about three feet away from him, hands reaching forward and eyes tracking every shape and figure they could make out inside the curtain of black that was thrown upon the two fighters.

"Power's out. We're taking the stairs" he stated, turning and walking past the small command room where Kaplan sat during his infiltration attempt. His night vision scope led him through the darkness, coloring the world in a soothing green color. He could now notice how clean this floor was in comparison to the floor the two were in earlier; there was no blood, no debris and no bodies. Finally, an environment clean of death, it helped the man's brain to relax a little, finally not surrounded by remains of the carnage committed by the Red Queen. The two eventually reached a small door located in the wall, far away from everything else, seemingly hiding in the farthest corner of the floor. 'One' pondered at the idea that maybe Umbrella wanted to hide the fact that they were still using something as antiquated as stairs, but safety regulations made them compelled to at least install some means of escape instead of a fire, or any other happening, he was pleased at that.

He reached for the door, but a hand placed on his shoulder stopped him. 'One' turned around to see Kaplan walking past him, the team's medic reached for the doorknob and twisted it open, moving the large door as it moved without making a single sound. Kaplan stepped in, but gestured his commander to retake the lead, which he did, now climbing up the stairs in a hurried pace while Kaplan was close behind him again, always tracking the silhouette of the larger man with his eyes.

"Stay close" 'One' told him, to which he replied with a nod. There was a silent pause of words between the two as they climbed up the seemingly endless staircase until eventually, 'One' spoke again

"You didn't need to open the door for me; I could've done it myself"

He spoke harshly, as if insulted by his teammate's attempt to help him. In reality, he only took a small blow to his ego; Kaplan's action may have been insignificant, but James, 'One', didn't need anything done for him, and despite the searing pain that went through his palms, just by holding the large German made rifle, he wouldn't have others doing his job.

"You're in enough pain just by carrying the G-36, applying pressure on your hands might cause irreparable damage, not to mention pain" the medic said, seeming to read his leader's thoughts.

'One' smiled through the darkness; an unseen grin which Kaplan could not see. He was a good soldier, 'One' knew him since 1996, when they both qualified for the Umbrella strike team exams, both passed, but the more talented James Shade was picked as leader and was given command of the new strike team- the Crimson Skulls, whilst Kaplan served as a medic in his unit. There were no heart feelings though; both Kaplan and James knew their position and profession and preformed flawlessly, the two even becoming close friends after a few missions.

The two fighters kept climbing up stairs, raking floors as they went along, the ascent seemed endless, one floor after another, and floor 3 seemed insanely far away. As they were coming up on floor 6, as indicated by a now dark red plastic sign, 'One's jaw dropped. The commander stared at the continuum of the staircase as it went upwards through his green field of vision and slammed the barrel of his weapon against the side of the wall, creating a loud noise that echoed through the huge hall.

"God- Damn it!"

He yelled in a mixture of frustration and rage. Behind him, Kaplan stood cold, the smaller man nearly jumped out of his own skin when he heard the cry. From his long time knowing him, 'One' never got angry, not enough to yell anyway. The man always had a cool approach, remaining calm even at the face of greater danger, thus the fact of him yelling out of pure anger sent a small tingle of worry down his spine.

"What is it?"

'One' turned towards him, the single green eye shone brightly as he spoke.

"The staircase has been destroyed, I don't know, looks like something just broke right through it, we'll have to find another route"

He looked up again, it was just as he said, complete destruction; in the stairs that led from floor Six to Five, a huge gap has been torn open, the metal was twisted and bent, torn from the wall and leaving holes in it. He was baffled; there were no signs of an explosion, what could've caused it to happen, was it the Red Queen? And if so, how?

It didn't matter now, all those questions wouldn't fix the staircase nor would they help them reach J.D, Rain and the civilians any faster. He pushed the questions to a corner of his mind, where he kept all he wanted to know and wasn't told about ever since he went down to the Hive for the first time and tried thinking up a decent solution to the problem. It didn't take him long before the answer came, once again proving his quick ability to think up and resolve problems.

"The elevator shafts. We'll open one of them and climb the cable 'Till we reach the third floor. It shouldn't take too long"

"But your hands-" Kaplan started, but was cut off

"- Are gonna hurt a little when we come out, but at least we'll get out"

'One' mentally swore; the pain in hands had died down long enough, or he was distracted enough to forget it for a few precious seconds in which he came up with the idea. He now thought how much pain he would have to endure during the climb up, remembering how much it hurt him just to close a fist. But it didn't matter, he had a responsibility for both J.D and Rain, and he had to rally with them as soon as he could, despite minor difficulties like the pain that coursed through his hands.

"I'll just have to suck it up, Bennie" he said and bashed open the locked door that lead to floor Six with a single, powerful blow from the butt of his G-36C; the lock on the black door busting away in a display of sparks as it broke off the doorframe with aid from the powerful blow, eliciting a loud noise.

He made an aggressive move into the entrance, taking a few quick and heavy steps in and scanning his surroundings rapidly, his eyes leading the barrel of his gun. It was another large room for as far as he could see; a wet floor greeted him as his boots made splashing sounds with each and every step he took. There was a strong smell of moss in the air, as if the entire place was a large swamp; he could almost hear the mosquitoes buzzing around him, like in all those trips he took to the Everglades and Louisiana before he enlisted. He couldn't tell colors with his night vision scope, but he could make out lighting levels; the entire location was cast into a deep darkness, there were large containers like the ones he saw at Dining Hall B, but smaller in size; the black boxes weren't towering high up like they did there, they were smaller, nearly human size, still decorated by the black color. He used a Zoom feature in his scope to read the white labeling on the crates.

**Fragile. Treat with caution  
Do not smoke- Flammable contents  
U755974113567960 **

"Clear" he finally said, allowing the near-blind Kaplan to follow him into the room. The short man stood next to him and tried to make something out of his surroundings, failing badly as he sighed with frustration. He was about to take a step forward, assuming his commander would follow suit and lead him to one of the elevator shafts, but was stopped by an outstretched black sleeved arm that stood before him like a gate

"One moment" he said in his low voice "I think we'd better get them working on the blast doors"

He reached for the comm. Unit in his jacket's collar and touched it on

"Top team, report"

(--T--)

It watched them for afar, well hidden inside the darkness and shadows like a trained ninja, its large claws clinging to the ceiling of one the hall's corners, keeping at attached to the wall like a fly. Its keen sense of sight, divided into a blur of red and white focused on the two figures standing a little farther than the entrance to the hall. In its eyes, they looked like two tall blobs of white against the horrifically sharp details of their surroundings. Muscles across its body tensed and shifted in a disgusting manner as they rippled across its exposed flesh, moving the creature across the ceiling of the hall, as quiet as a ghost as it stalked the two figures, assuming a better position to attack.

Voices reached its head. It heard them from its position above, and saw the two figures perfectly. If it attacked now, they'd both be easy pray to its claws. It bore teeth at the two, snarling lowly as two rows of barbed razor sharp teeth were revealed in the darkness. Had there been any light in the place, or had its snarl been any louder, the two would've known of its presence for sure

But they did not

Its muscles tensed, sending ripples all across its deformed body as it came closer and closer to the ceiling, winding its body and preparing to pounce at the two figures below it. The smell of blood from its future prey already tingled in its brain, creating small droplets of water all across the creature's long and slimy tongue.

With one final thrust of its muscles, it jumped down, roaring inhumanly.

(--T--)

"**MOVE!**"

'One' cried out and pushed Kaplan sideways. His counterpart was caught completely off guard by the roar, and the sudden thrust he took in the back drove him completely out of harm's way, making him hit his face against one of the containers and collapse to the ground. 'One' looked up in the last second to see the horrendous creature diving on him, with no time to react, the man braced for impact; throwing his arms in front of his face and springing his legs, causing his entire body to jump as he and the creature met in midair.

It hit him full force in the center of his body, taking him down to the floor. Before his encounter with the cold flooring, the man could feel three sharp claws imbedding themselves within his left shoulder, waking a horrible wave of pain that simply tore his body apart, releasing unimaginable amounts of Adrenaline into his body, and blood to the outside. As his back hit the floor, 'One' took advantage of the support he had been waiting for and placed his feet inside the creature's stomach, rolling back and applying a powerful kick that sent the thing flying off his body and onto the exit door, ripping its long claws out of his shoulder and causing even more blood to gash out of the wound. It collided against a wall that stood next to the doorway, creating a loud and painful sound of bone and flesh against concrete and fell down to the ground, seemingly passed out.

'One' got to his feet quickly, feeling the serrated blade of pain coursing through his shoulder once more. He swore loudly and grabbed hold of his G-36, firing a quick and short burst of ammunition that lit the whole hall for a few seconds in a flash of yellow gunfire as the weapon roared and spewed death at the opposite direction. The rounds dug themselves hard against the grainy concrete, tearing holes and breaking bits and pieces of it. The painful realization hit the Crimson Skulls' commander like a brick in the face

Whatever he shot at, it was no longer there.

"Come on!" He exclaimed loudly and grabbed hold of his fallen comrade, propping him up to his feet and supporting him as he began to quickly move towards the other end of the hall, where according to the map, the elevators were located.

"We've gotta get out of here!"

Kaplan said nothing and merely followed his commander's orders as his walk slowly turned into a run, and his run into a sprint while he tried to follow. His heart pounded hard in his chest, he could feel the muscles pumping inside his legs, making him quicken his pace as he tried keeping up with his leader who was always about three feet ahead, constantly scanning his surrounding, weapon shouldered.

That's when he heard the roar again.

It was blood curdling; an animalistic cry of a predator hunting it's pray in the jungle, like a Lion or a Cheetah, only 'One' did not think of himself as a Gazelle. He wanted to stop and fight back at the creature that wounded him, but knew he was in no fighting condition; wounded and battered, and even though he had every bit of confidence in his teammate, he knew the man was unable to see two feet ahead of him, and whatever this thing was, it was fast.

They had to get away.

Supporting Kaplan, 'One' ran as fast as he could, rounding corners beyond the large containers, always checking his sides and back for the creature. Adrenaline raced through his veins, fueling his body with stamina as the man picked up the pace even further and headed towards the shut down elevators. He heard it roar again, to his right, the thing's unearthly voice echoing through the hall, which only made him run faster, constantly checking his right side, catching momentary glances of the thing as it ran in a parallel line to them, beyond a row of containers.

"What the FUCK was _THAT_?!"

Kaplan's voice suddenly blasted through his ears. The man sounded petrified, fear surging through his voice as his sweat covered face distorted with horror; eyes wide, mouth running dry, short hair dimpled with water. 'One' did not know how to reply; he was reluctant to scare his teammate even further, but on the other hand, lying to him did not seem like much of an option. He opened his mouth, stammering the words

"I… I don't really know" He started "It looked like a big dog or something; a Bulldog or Pit-Bull" intentionally, he hid the fact that the creature had in fact no skin and that it had long claws that proved very efficient at digging through flesh, _his _flesh.

"It jumped us from the ceiling, how did it do that?!"

He sounded panicked, his voice rising and dropping on random occasions, making it sound like he was squealing in a baby-like voice. 'One' knew the horror his friend was in; to him, the enemy was not just fast and agile like it was to him

It was also invisible.

An idea suddenly jolted into the commander's mind; he briefly let go of his weapon and reached for one of the pockets in the vest, quickly opening it and pulling something out with his bandaged hand, the white bandaged earning a more darkened color from dirt and grime that clung to them. He suddenly broke to the left, taking even Kaplan by surprise as the man nearly slipped, having to rely on support from the larger man as his feet skidded across the floor. He quickly regained his composure and stabilized himself, getting back to the mad dash he was in earlier.

Without a word, 'One' pulled hard on the grenade pin, twisting and pulling the silvery ring out of its socket. It reacted with a loud click, telling him that the small ball of destruction in his hand was now fully armed, the only thing that was keeping it from beginning its countdown to detonation was the small lever secured tightly to it by his hand.

He dropped it.

_The black UFG-33 Fragmentation grenade fell slowly to the ground, rotating around itself as the lever broke off, triggering the firing mechanism inside it on. It met with the cold floor, bouncing up, rising several dust particles into the air while the two men continued their mad dash. It finally rested, still wobbling from side to side at random, the black banana shaped lever placed next to it. _

3…

2…

1…

"DOWN!" the leader cried, forcing himself onto Kaplan's slim figure and applying his entire bodyweight on him. The man of course fell down under the burden on his back, placing both his hands in front of him as he met with the cold and grimy floor, even skidding forward a few feet. He closed his eyes shut and tried plugging his ears as fast as he could, sticking two fingers into them painfully fast.

**BOOM!**

A huge fireball of red and orange merged from thin air, rising from the ground to the ceiling at a mind blowing speed. The orange flames lit the darkened hall whist the shockwave literally made the floor shake under the bodies of the two men. The blast was defaming, creating loud beeping sounds inside 'One's ears, but that did not distract the man one bit; he rolled over Kaplan's back and regained his hold on the G-36, opening fire into the cloud of flames, following the sound that he had heard

The creature's scream.

It was difficult to hear over the loud explosion of the grenade, but his ears picked up the sound of the inhuman cry of pain and filled him with satisfaction. The Assault Rifle rattled in his hands as one bullet followed another into the darkness, muzzle fire from 'One's gun creating a prolonged display of yellow light that lit up his closed surroundings. He stopped firing, allowing the searing pain in his palms and shoulder to cool down. His night vision scope readjusted itself to the lighting conditions, allowing him to see through the curtain of darkness and to the place he was firing; there was a large circle of black ashes on the floor, some fragments from the grenade's inner munitions and smears all over the sides of the containers. He smiled with satisfaction

It was blood, the creature's blood.

Propping Kaplan back to his feet, the two began walking towards their original destination; the elevator shafts. The smell of the C4 used inside the grenade was heavy in the air, burning their throats as they breathed in, eliciting coughs from both the men, but they weren't bothered, all they could care about was their footsteps, echoing through silence, each of them leading them closer to salvation from the damned place. The two of them were silent, not saying a word to each other since they finished their conversation with the top team.

"I… I think we should arrange a funeral"

The team's medic spoke all of a sudden, catching 'One's attention. He wanted to silence him, at least until they rally with the top team, but his mind refused, willing to give the man his freedom of speech, to allow him to vent his sorrow.

After all, it's not every day that you lose five of your teammates.

"Nothing too fancy, we'll each donate whatever we can" he continued, his voice breaking at several points as his eyes began to water. "Maybe Umbrella would contribute some funds, we'll add the rest"

Tears slowly poured out of the sides of the man's eyes, he pulled on his nose, his lips distorting and quivering, but he kept talking

"It'll be like in the movies, you know? We'll each go up and say something, then cry a little…" he couldn't hold back on the tears anymore, they now flowed freely out of his eyes, staining his uniform and reddening his eyes. He couldn't believe how much death he had to deal with on one day; Tag Two were wiped out completely, killed by the Queen's defenses, he could do nothing to help them, but the mere thought of them; four people he knew for many, many years since they joined the team, he even took Lisa as his own personal trainee in case he would be forced to retire from the team, earning the Crimson Skulls two medics. Then there was J.D, he knew the man for ten whole years, becoming more than a friend with him, the three of them; James, himself and J.D literally put the team together from scratch, initially working as a small three-man strike team and later becoming a fully pledged five-man Umbrella Commando unit, finally taking on three added troops to perfect the team.

Now they got back to being just three. Three, such a small number in the crying man's eyes.

"I think it's a great idea"

The leader finally spoke, nodding towards his weeping comrade and looking at him with concerned eyes. He didn't actually think the idea was good, in fact, he was positive Umbrella wouldn't even contribute a single dollar for a private funeral, oh no. Umbrella had a very strict regulation about the 'disposal' of its dead troops: Cremation.

He sighed at the thought; his men and women deserved an honorary burial, if not of their physical body, then at least to their spirit, giving it the rest it needed after the hell their bodies went through, trapped inside the Hive.

"I'll…. I'll ask Rain if she's interested in helping us out. I'm, I'm not sure she will, ya'know, she didn't really get in touch with any of Tag Two, except Lisa so I'm not-" he was cut off

"Don't worry, she will" 'One' assured him, making the man break a small smile. He wiped a mass of tears and sweat off his face, sending it to the floor to splatter into a puddle. The two men wandered through the large room for a couple more minutes before finding what they were looking for, the elevators

There were four of them; four sets of silvery doors embedded into a brown frame, the doors looked pretty thick, resting heavily in their positions. Without power, they'd be extremely difficult to move, both 'One' and Kaplan knew that, and yet, they were also accompanied by the knowledge that in order to get out of that floor and reach the next one, they'd have to open the doors. The two approached one of the sets, each examining it in his own way, searching for a way to open them. The doors were clamped against each other, hard with no room for fingers to squeeze in and pull. Kaplan sighed with frustration, it was the first thing he was able to see clearly since the lights went out, and he wasn't sure he actually wanted to see it.

"We'll need a crowbar or something" he said in a low tone of frustration and annoyance, sitting down on the ground and thinking. Just as he was about to make a suggestion, the loud sound of metal crushing against metal reached his ears. He looked up to see 'One', battering the corner of one of the two doors with the butt of his weapon. The man roared with rage that fueled his muscles before each blow that sent the large door back a few millimeters, he pounded the door mercilessly, as franticly as a miner with his pickaxe, digging for gold and diamonds. The process was slow, but it worked and sonly enough, one powerful blow after another caused enough of a gap to be created between the two doors, the corner of one bent beyond recognition, to squeeze in hands and fingers.

"Gimmie a hand, Kap!"

'One' yelled at him and stuck both of his powerful hands in the gap, pulling hard on the door in order to move it, applying painful pressure on his burnt hands, pressure that sent jolts of pain through the man's body as he gritted his teeth and pulled on. Kaplan did not wait even a second before walking up to the door; he stuck his legs in the doorframe in opposition to 'One's body, bent down and began pushing against the heavy block of metal. The door did not give way too easily as it creaked and croaked with every single movement it made towards being fully opened, tiring the two men to no end. Blood began seeping out of 'One's hands to his bandages, but the man did not care for his pain and instead just pulled harder, narrowing his eyes and growling like the bravest of Lions while the door moved in its ever-so slow manner. Eventually, the two men's hard work paid off; the large door was completely out of its place, revealing the darkness of the elevator shaft, a place that, if possible, was even darker than the hall they were in.

As soon as Kaplan was done reapplying bandages to his leader's arms, the latter unlatched a flare from his vest, popped it open and dropped it inside the shaft to provide them with at least minimum lighting. The flare made its way down, clanging as it randomly collided against the corners of the shaft until finally reaching all the way down and crashing against the bottom. It suddenly lit up, spreading a powerful green glow throughout the shaft, a glow that forced 'One' to remove his Night Vision scope in order for the bright light to not damage his eye. Much to his relief, he was able to spot the few, almost invisible steps of a ladder, running up the elevator shaft's side, gleaming against the flare's green light, at least he won't have to climb the cord with his bare hands.

He stretched his arm across the shaft, gun slung on his back, and grabbed one of the ladder's steps with his open palm, causing immediate pain to shoot up throughout his entire arm. With gritted teeth, the man quickly sent his leg too, applying support and easing the pressure on his bruised palm. Another hand, and another leg joined quick, and 'One' had already began climbing. He quickly learned that if he keeps moving, the pain in his palms dies down, as pressure is applied on them only for a millisecond or so, although if he stops, the same searing ache from the ladder's bar comes back. He turned his down as he climbed, wishing to call Kaplan to join him, but the man had thought ahead, already making his way onto the steel bars and keeping close to his commander. 'One' smiled inwardly, thanking God he met Kaplan back at that day in 1996, and some other soldier.

(--T--)

it laid behind one of the black containers, bleeding, bruised, a gaping hole literally torn open in its rear leg, black fragments of the grenade still imbedded in the wound, seen clearly between pumping veins and rippling muscles. It growled with rage, bearing razor sharp teeth and pink gums, its long tongue stretching out, reaching incredible lengths. It retracted as the creature's quiet roar ended, heard by none other than itself. The creature stood on three of its limbs, blood was still clear on one of them as the black and red claws tapped against the floor with certain impatience, had this creature been human, one might consider it was waiting for something, or someone, to come by, but that wasn't it.

Sonly enough, a sick noise could be heard, a noise sounding like a million maggots and larvae crawling back and forth. The creature let out a pain riddled roar and collapsed to the cold floor, every single muscle, even its exposed brain, a clear mass of pink and red matter on top of its head, was pumping hard, rippling, contracting. It roared a prolonged period of time; an inhuman, unearthly sound that never seemed to end as the creature writhed in pain on the cold and grimy floor, twitching left and right in a vain attempt to end the pain.

The black shards that were embedded in its muscular leg fell right off to the floor, muscle, blood vessels and tissue were rebuilding themselves, regenerating in a mind bending rate, the large tear in the thing's leg closing within a matter of minutes. More noises followed as four bloodied bullets came rolling off the creature's chest and onto the floor, covered in the red liquid that flowed inside its grotesque body.

It got to its legs, standing on the tips of its claws, which gained it the notorious speed it possessed. Shaking its mangled head, the creature let out another powerful and demonic howl that echoed through the large dark hall. If it wanted to, it could chase the two things again, the smell of their blood was clear in the air, telling it the way like a set of guidance arrows, but it chose not to. This pray was hard to kill, especially when there is more than one of them, from what it had gathered, those things traveled in packs of two, or four. It saw four of those creatures back when its cage broke and it escaped, but they did not seem to notice it. Deciding to hide once more and wait for better pray, it left the hall through the red door and climbed up the wall, tearing away at stairs like it had done when it came down. With one swift blow of its powerful arm, the silver door leading to floor 5 was broken and it slipped in.

Waiting for new pray.

(--T--)

00:00:03:00

It was one of the Hive's many lavatory rooms, built by one of the most basic toiletry layouts; the room itself was fairly large in size, and rectangular in shape. The walls were made by a mixture of black marvel and white porcelain, giving off a unique aura to the place as a single light danced across the black marvel lower side of the wall; a single white streak in a sea of darkness. The floor was made entirely of black floor tiles, save the middle of the large room, which had the unmistakeable red and blue hexagonal Umbrella logo, made out of a beautiful mosaic of bright neon blue and red flooring tiles. There were five bathroom stalls, defined by large and tall blue walls, each of their sides was decorated with a red and green Vacant/Occupied sign which showed nothing at the present moment, there were also about six white urinals beside the stalls, also defined by small blue walls, hiding the men's lower region while they were doing their business. A series of sinks stood in front of the tiles, there were about ten of them, white marvel sinks with silver taps, placed inside a huge slab of deep green marvel, above which was a single long mirror; a piece of clear glass that spread from one end to the slab to the other, displaying the utter darkness which reigned through the large room in a perfect manner.

00:00:02:00

He just finished planting the small black and blue sphere on top of the pipe's ceiling above him, giving it one more look before turning away to the rest of his team; M-77, about half a pound of plastic explosives which he had carefully placed in a predetermined location set by Tai, a single antenna stuck out of the black topping of the weapon, blinking in a red light, much like the second piece of the device held in his gloved hand; the detonator. He took another deep breath of air from inside of his air mask, turning around and giving his team the much awaited approving nod

"Primed" he said in his low masculine voice, sounding static through their intercoms. They nodded and sunk below the water level again, disappearing into the darkness and leaving white foam and bubbles that followed them. He turned back to the small black sphere with the blue line which ran across it and gave it one more examining look. As far as he could see, everything was fine, he set his mind to that thought and popped the top of the grey detonator, revealing a small red button, joining his teammates underwater.

00:00:01:00

The water distorted his vision as he tried looking up at the weapon again, he was always too concened when it came to the M-77's, he was never able to find them safe for his taste, they seemed unpredictable to him, so much destructive force in such a small package, it made C4 and Semtex look like kids' gun powder. Nevertheless, he was forced to use it on this mission, despite his resentment to the weapon system. He brought the detonator close to his head, placing his gloved thumb over the red button, hovering just a millimeter away from it.

His leader, the Point Man, nodded.

He pressed it.

00:00:00:00

**Armed- - - -  
Good Bye **

**BOOM! **

The weapon went off, sending a low voltage surge to the high explosives inside the sphere, taking immediate affect as the small black ball erupted into a fiery inferno within a millisecond, casting a shockwave that was even felt through the water below it, rattling the bones of the five divers as the huge fireball danced above in blood red flames, a sinister side affect of the new explosives inside the weapon.

On the surface, the middle of the umbrella logo went up in flames; the fireball pierced right through it and blew the beautiful mosaic stones into bits, sending shards of blackened stone and marvel everywhere as a cloud of black smoke rose, covering the aftermath of the powerful explosion that took place only one second before.

He rose first; dressed in the tight black wetsuit, water sliding off him, making the suit to seemingly glow. He wore a diver's mask on his face, a single black visor hiding his eyes and an obsidian triangle-shaped gas mask on, a long black pipe leading from it to the back of his ammunition, his unmistakeable M-1014 Shotgun was quickly drawn as soon as his head surfaced through the breach in the floor; a long red line of the Laser Designator streaking from below the long black barrel of the menacing weapon. He swept the entire room in one single motion, his eyes leading the barrel of his gun, scanning the area for any threat whatsoever. Finding none, he placed both hands on the ledge of the hole and climbed out, not before announcing in his low voice

"Clear"

He helped the following troop to come out. The front of her suit told that it's a woman, she was much shorter than him, but wore the same identity-less clothing. She had no weapon in her hands, but a bulge of a weapon holster came out of her thigh. As soon as she placed both feet on the surface, the girl fell down to sit with her legs crossed, drawing out a laptop from the back of her vest, turned it on and set to work immediately.

Next came two men, climbing out of opposite sides of the hole, each moving to another direction as they left the water. One of them quickly unzipping two pistol holsters that were sewed into the wetsuit itself, spilling out a rather large amount of a foul smelling brown liquid that spread a remarkable stench in the small room, which is something either of the soldiers would complain about, had they been able to smell the outside air. He drew out a couple of AT-14 pistols, checking them both while tilting them diagonally, gun oil seeping through the barrel and the slide.

Last came the final soldier in the F.E.A.R Sigma team; the girl rose in a single jump, not even climbing the ledge but instead leaping high into the air, grabbing the ledge and sliding across the floor with her legs, a single small pistol already drawn out and head scanning the darkness in small quick motions.

"Easy there, Rambo" The soldier wielding the pistols said and placed them on the marvel slab "Spooks called it 'clear', remember?" He taunted, his usually raspy voice earning an even more eerie tone because of the static sound

"I wanted to see for myself. No offence, Spooks" she replied. The soldier wielding the large shotgun turned towards her and gave a nod

"Non taken"

He replied, and turned towards the girl sitting down, who was still typing mad at her computer

"Well, can we take them off?"

She stopped typing for a second and turned her masked head to face his, breathing a sigh of relief and removing her gas mask, revealing her young teenaged face

"Biometric's clear, we can breath here" she added. The remaining four soldiers removed their masks in unison, all taking in a deep breath of the outside air, finally taking un-processed air into their lungs, appreciating it greatly.

They got out of their wetsuit quickly, stripping down back to their original fabric uniform, leaving the wetsuits, gasmasks and oxygen tanks hidden inside one of the bathroom stalls. The warriors wore their vests back, unpacking their main weapons and loading them, preparing to take action within the Hive. The Point Man reached for his ear, activating his ear piece; a small black circle inside his left ear that extended a line into his balaclava which ended with a small microphone, positioned directly in front of his lips.

"Sigma team to Umbrella, we've breached the Hive, awaiting orders, over" he spoke in his raspy voice, the response wasn't too late to come

"_Sigma team. This is Aaron Johnson, I'll be coordinating between your team and Umbrella. Report your position, over_"

"Mr. Johnson, this is Tai, Sigma team's tech specialist. Our position is… Lavatory room number fourteen. Requesting directions to the Red Queen's main Server Hub, over"

There was a slight pause in the man's reply. She could hear him talking to someone in the background, silent voices which she could not make out. Eventually, she heard a loud noise of plastic being lifted from a table and Mr. Johnson's voice came back

"_You're basically on the same floor as the Server Hub. Positional data is currently uploaded to your laptop's GPS program, it should lead you there with ease. Contact me once your finished. Please confirm, over_"

"Loud and clear, Umbrella" The Point Man replied this time "We'll report back once through with the job. Sigma team, out"

He signed off, taking the earpiece out of its place and letting it hang loosely, supported only by his balaclava. He was glad he didn't have to contact the person Collins told them about, that Cain man, he sounded to him like a real snake, worrying for his equipment more that to his men's lives, but he was somehow used to that. His latest run-in with large tech companies told him just how little do the people in there think of the human life, treating it like nothing more than another disposable resource at their hands. He remembered what his so called 'Grandfather', Harlan Wade, told him of what the people of ATC had put his mother through, turning her from a young girl into a psychotic creature with murderous intentions, only kept alive to bring offspring to lead the Replica Army. He was not surprised at all when he heard Cain's disregard for human life, in fact, he had foreseen it.

"Alright" he said at last, turning all attention to him "Here's the game plan"

"Since I don't want Umbrella to know what we're up to, we'll make an attempt at taking the Memory drive first" He paced through the room as he was talking, his teammates' heads turning and following him.

"After we'll take hold of it, we'll announce Radio Breakdown, no outside connection with anyone, _especially _not Umbrella. We'll then go on a search and rescue, find the stranded unit, and get out. Does everyone agree?"

Everyone nodded in agreement without a splint of hesitation; the plan was simple, yet affective. If they follow through it quickly enough, it shouldn't take them more than an hour or two to get out with the survivors; The Hive was maybe a large complex which was easy to get lost in, but they had all the maps and blueprints required to get out of there swiftly.

"One question though, sir" Sling asked, even raising his gloved hand while he did.

"What about Replicas?"

"Slinger" he began, now walking towards the soldier "I called it Search and Rescue and not Seek and Destroy for a reason. Our only objective for as far as I'm concerned is to get the Commando unit out of this hole. We're not going to hunt down Replicas, they can _ROT_ here for as far as I care"

"However…" he continued, walking even closer to the man, inching his masked face from the other man's

"If we encounter them at any point, you have my full permission to fill them with as much lead as you want" his voice was dangerously low when he said those words, Sling could sense the man had a chip on his shoulder against those cursed clones.

If he only had an idea of how right he was.

"In the meantime" he spoke normally, breaking away from the man's face and turning towards the rest. "Mai, Spooks, I want you to take Recon, the rest of us will follow"

"Gotcha" the dark skinned man said and walked towards the way out of the room; a black door, made out of plastic that looked like carved wood. He removed the Laser Designator from the barrel of his weapon and mounted a small black flashlight on it, turning it on to spread a wide beam of light through the room. Maya followed suit, also attaching a torch to her gun's bottom and standing on the opposing side of the door, keeping her brown eyes locked on the man's fingers; three of them were stretched out, indicating her of the countdown before he breached through, one of his fingers retracted, leaving only one second to go. She gulped hard and nodded to herself, preparing to take on whatever's on the other side of the door.

Spooks folded his last finger and grabbed hold of the shotgun with both hands, taking a second to wind his body and then hammering his shoulder into the door in a powerful explosion of brute force. The tiny hinges of the door gave way instantly, breaking away from the doorframe as the black board was literally torn off from its position and fell to the floor in front of them. He was the first to leave, taking a quick step through the door and directed his gun down the hall. Mai took the opposite direction, leaving in the same manner as he did, leaving whatever enemy that was lurking in the darkness no reaction time to attack her teammate.

They aimed their weapons in a typical sweeping motion, scanning the floor, the walls, the ceiling. The sight that was revealed to them made their blood run cold. Maya's tanned skin had become as pale as chalk; she had seen many horrifying things as a commando soldier, both in Israel and in F.E.A.R, hell, she actually took part in the infiltration to Auburn City, but nothing could prepare either her, or Spooks, to the terror that unraveled in front of their eyes.

"Oh…my…_god_" the girl let out, unable to take her eyes off the horrendous sight that was turning her stomach upside down.

"Uh, boss?" Spooks spoke, his manly voice was weakened now, sounding more like a terrified man and not the usual fearless soldier he was known to be.

"You better take a look at this"

(----------V----------)

The starting shot for Interval Four was fired, trust me folks, you're gonna like this one, I just know (And hope) you will. I decided that instead of releasing a 40-50 pages interval in one week, I'll release it as entries, much like I did with the last one. It's just like the intervals are divided in F.E.A.R, and you didn't hear anyone complaining there, I just hope I won't find any complaints here.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, if there IS something any of you didn't like, feel free to post your review and tell me. I'll try to change it as to fit everyone's desires.

One last thing: I need your help in thinking up a name for me sequel(Yes, there's gonna be one!). I've tried to decide, but couldn't, and I was hoping you guys (And girls) could help me. I'm torn between

Fear No Evil: The Raccoon (City) Extraction  
or  
Fear No Evil: Aftermath

Please drop a review with a piece of your mind, new names would be welcomed as well!

'Till next week, see ya'll later!


	8. Entry One: Contaminated

Hey now, off to another installment in the Fear No Evil series. I'd like to thank **Tanya Adams 64 ** for reviewing once again and to my new reviewer, **Chief Ratchet**, thanks for correcting me on that spelling thing man, I can't believe I didn't notice it!

By the way, if any of you missed the Replicas, here they are again, coming back in this entry!

Disclaimer: Err… Nope, don't own RE or FEAR.

Interval Four: Contact  
Entry One: Contaminated

Mission Time: 4h 06m 45s  
Location: The Hive- Somewhere on Floor Three

Cold

It wasn't regular cold. There was something strange about the sensation that swept across the three figures once the lights have died down; it seemed to come along with the thick blanket of darkness as it descended upon the base, covering everything and everyone. Its affects were felt immediately; a stinging sensation that seemed to penetrate all clothing and reach directly to the bone, causing the girl to conclude that the power surge must have shut down the many air conditioning units that operated inside the Hive, now revealing its survivors to the chilling temperatures that reigned supreme underground.

She shivered now, body resenting the cold feeling that's been dropped upon it all of a sudden. Her lips let out a thick cloud of white vapor as she exhaled, the cold sensation penetrating through her light clothes and skin, coursing through her in freezing waves that came one after another, threatening to turn her into a walking block of ice, or at least, that's how she felt.

Her hands reached for her shoulders; each palm grabbing an opposing shoulder and rubbing it for warmth. It did the trick for a certain extent; the cold that plagued her was relieved, even if by a little. She cursed inwardly for having taken such a light pick of clothing, wising to have at least grabbed a jacket before Matt carried her out of the room in the mansion.

She looked at him, scanning each and every little detail about him with her blue eyes; he seemed to be taking the cold much better than she was, not constantly shivering like a leaf in the wind, his lips sealed shut and his eyes perplexed on the back of the warrior ahead of him. He caught her glance and broke out a small smile, to which she replied with one of her own, but smiling wasn't keeping her warm, and sonly enough, she got back to shivering, teeth clattering against each other as her entire body strained not to freeze over.

Rain suddenly stood still, making the blonde freeze on the spot, as well as Matt. The two looked around nervously; did she hear something? See anything in the darkness ahead of them? Perhaps they were being ambushed while he was busy thinking about whatever preoccupied his mind. Ten million different scenarios raced through the heads of the two civilians, some were good, some were worse, and others were of sheer terror and threw horrifying images into the minds of the two. That is until the familiar noise of a zipper being undone reached their ears.

"Here"

She said quietly and handed Alice her long sleeved Kevlar jacket. The girl looked at the black piece of tactical clothing with certain astonishment; after what happened earlier, she never expected Rain to help her with anything, especially with something as trivial as a mere cold sensation. She grabbed hold of the Jacket's collar and instantly felt the warm interior on her fingers; it felt like a single hot spot across her entire freezing body, so tempting.

"I… I couldn't"

Her eyes widened suddenly and her two lips separated as she stammered quietly. For some reason, she found herself reluctant to shield herself against the cold, maybe because it would mean that the other girl would now suffer from the same cold that wreaked havoc through her body.

Rain pushed hard with her hand, forcing the jacket into the girl's chest, causing her to suddenly gasp. The soft look which took over her expression for a second had now been traded for her usual annoyed face.

"I don't recall asking you, now take it!"

She ordered; her voice as lashing and harsh as ever. Alice did not even speak or reply, just took the black piece of clothing and wrapped it around herself. A wave of warmth washed over her system as she slowly closed the silvery zipper shut

_She was looking at her reflection now, bouncing off a large mirror placed inside the large locker room. She looked different; her hair was cut shorter and had a red touch to it, she wore a pair of small plastic glasses, protected by a thick purple frame, the lenses were triangular in shape and large enough to protect her eyes from sparks. She looked downwards at her feet and finished up tying her black combat boots, now getting to her feet and standing up._

_Turning around, she inspected the large locker room she was in; dull gray concrete walls, some showers and plenty of benches and blue lockers, much like the bench she was sitting on previously. She reached inside the locker and picked up a weapon that looked much like J.D's, feeling the cold metal against her bare hands. She smiled with satisfaction and left the room through a large blue doorway_

A silent heave of relief escaped her lips, unheard by any of her two companions, for which she thanked; it would've probably just annoyed Rain even further.

"We're moving on"

It would've appeared that their momentary break had ended as the female commando grabbed hold of her weapon and continued her steady pace into the darkness, her short ponytail bobbing up and down with every step she took further, a blue beam of light sent from the bottom of her gun's barrel guiding her through each and every single step she took into the darkness.

Alice placed both her hands inside two of the jacket's pockets, providing her with even more warmth and shielding against the bitter cold. Her fingers felt the small cylinder like structure of a flashlight inside one of the pockets. She drew her hand out and clicked the small device on; making it sent a wide beam of white light onto the leading girl's back. The sight that was revealed to her made a chill run down her spine; now that her jacket has been removed, Rain's arms were exposed to the flashlight's beam, protected only by the short sleeves of the girl's heat preserving shirt and the black, half-fingered gloves. Alice's eyes could now see the many red semi-circles spread all over Rain's two arms. She knew what they were; bite marks, made by those people they fought back at dining hall B, some were still oozing out crimson blood that smeared all over the girl's tanned arms. The sight was so gruesome it made the blonde gasp in sudden shock, quickly putting her other hand to her chest.

"What is it?"

Rain snapped at her. The girl turned around in lightning fast speed, scanning high and low with her gun. Her eyes darted everywhere, trying to find the cause of her companion's sudden gasp.

"Nothing" Alice replied, earning a glare from the girl's blue eyes. Rain's eyes narrowed dangerously, her lips thinning out of anger; Alice could see she demanded an explanation, and she had better come up with one quick.

"I just… Your arms"

She was stammering again, frightened by the dark haired girl who was standing in front of her, scared by thoughts of the way she would react; Alice knew the girl's psyche was rather unstable at the current moment, having witnessed her friend die in such a horrible manner, the last thing she wanted was an emotional outburst to be lashed out at her.

Rain did not do such a thing. Instead, she just gave her another seemingly soft look with her usual cold eyes

"It doesn't feel as bad as it looks"

She was lying, although not wanting to openly admit it to Alice, Matt or herself for that matter, she had been feeling strange ever since the first bite she took; her arms were now itching like crazy, she had to fight hard against the sensation, but exposing them to the cold had eased up the feeling. She could feel early signs of nausea in her stomach, a certain indescribable feeling that attacked her midsection in rippling waves, threatening to bring her to the point of vomiting, something she did not wish to do.

There was also something else; she couldn't describe the added feeling, but she knew something odd was going on inside her body. A strange sensation of numbness attacked parts of her lower back and heat waves flashed across her body, forcing cold sweat inside her shirt.

She was sick with something.

They moved on, coursing through yet another long corridor with no directions whatsoever. Matt swore inwardly; even if he tried his best, he couldn't determine their next move, or plot a path for them to travel in. It was unlike him to be led by someone else; even through he was merely a sergeant in the ranks of the A.U.O, the notorious terrorist organization, he had a certain amount of control over himself. In a way, he was his own man, a free agent within the system of commanders, performing whatever actions he wanted to take on himself in order to sabotage the Umbrella war machine's march.

But now, he was nothing more than a mere soldier, following the commands of the black haired girl. It didn't suit him one bit; he had his own agenda to take care of, and first on the list was finding Lisa, something he would not accomplish by just walking after the two girls. He had only two options; one, to take command of the small group and lead them on a search, or two…

"_Top team, report_"

'One's static voice erupted through Alice's collar, having not plugged her earpiece into her ear, the small white device hung loosely at the girl's jacket, emitting the man's voice for all three to hear in a somewhat good quality, despite the static interference. The blonde nearly jumped out of her skin, surprised by the voice that reached her ears in such a surprising manner. In front of her, Rain smacked herself mentally; she completely forgot about the comm. Unit when she gave Alice her jacket. She walked up to the girl and removed it from her; taking a black piece of plastic and wires that was shaped like a dog's collar and placing it on her neck, putting the white earpiece into her ear and touching the surface of the ring around her neck to activate the device.

"Ocampo here, we're moving out of Dining Hall B, things got a little hostile in there"

She bit her lip, not willing to tell him about what happened to J.D. She knew both 'One' and Kaplan had a much longer time knowing J.D that she had, having joined the team only three years ago, back at 2004, when she finally made it past the Umbrella Corporation's commando qualification tests, earning herself a room in the most prestigious strike unit of the organization; the Crimson Skulls. She was sure that if she told him that, he would be broken, but she couldn't lie to him, could she? 'One' would never lie to her, throughout her three years service under his command, the man had never lied to her even once, he did not deserve to be lied to, and she knew that.

"Sir… There's something else"

"_What is it?_"

She couldn't believe the words escaped her lips, it was as if someone else had taken control of her body, moving her lips without her control, as if they were tied by strings to a puppet master's fingers. He did not reply, but instead waited for her to continue, welcoming her statement with a cold wave of silence.

"We've… "

She paused again, the words lodged themselves into her throat, not wanting to come out. It felt like a sharp boulder stuck just above her windpipe, sending immense waves of pain every time she opened her mouth and tried to say the words, it brought silvery tears to her eyes, which she quickly wiped off with the back of her glove. She tried talking again, but the boulder prevented her from doing so, paining her even more.

"We've had a One-Eighty-Seven"

There, she said it, but the relieve she was waiting for did not come, and instead was replaced with only more pain inside her throat and chest as more tears flowed out of her eyes, running across her cheeks and staining her shirt. She breathed heavily, fighting against the tears and the pain in her throat with tremendous efforts, but gaining nothing more that more sorrow that engulfed her, encasing her mind in a cloud of darkness.

No response came from the other side, had the seconds on her digital watch not changed, she could have sworn time stood still. She could hear nothing more than her breathing as it pounded through her ears, the long exhales and inhales her paining throat took every now and then, brining even more tears to her eyes and clouding her vision.

"_How… How did it happen?_"

Her leader's voice lost its power, she could feel the shock and sorrow in the static that was emitted into her ear. She looked forward to meet Alice and Matt's gazes; the two said nothing, even the looks on their eyes were fairly blank, as if not willing to help her. Her teeth closed around her lower lip as her eyes sealed shut in an attempt to stop the tears, in no avail.

_"Fuck! NO!" He cried. A wave of cold hands erupted from the open door and grabbed whatever it could; clothes, flesh, his face. They TOUCHED his face. He was pulled in, disappearing into the crowd of people, it happened so fast, she could not react, unable to do anything._

_"J.D!!!!!_"

The scream echoed through her ears, so lucid and clear, as if she stood next to herself when the howl escaped her lips. She bit her lip harder, almost striking blood, her eyes opened, staring blankly at Matt and Alice.

"I… I…"

She stammered, fighting back the tears with everything she had, but it wasn't enough, she couldn't stop them no matter what she did. Her mind froze like a block of ice, disabling her from thinking properly, she could literally feel her heart lodged deep in her throat, choking her.

"_How did he die, Rain? What happened?_"

_She reached in and grabbed his bleeding palm with her own, locking her fingers around his own in a vice like grip. Her entire body pulled, trying to pull him out, away from the hands and faces that sunk into him, but they didn't give up. She pulled harder, despite the teeth that penetrated her arms time and time again, shocking her with waves of pain that sparked across her outstretched limbs. He begged her not to let go, pleaded, there were tears in his eyes._

"We were fighting them… And the door… I tried to pull him…"

She spoke nonsense, and what's worse was the fact that she knew it. Her mind just refused to work properly, overwhelmed by emotions that attacked it from each and every direction. She was ashamed at herself for acting the way she did; no longer being the professional soldier she always aspired to be, but now more of an emotional crying teenager with no control over her emotions, it emberassed her to no end.

"_You're not making sense, Ocampo_" her commander said, confirming her feeling "_Tell me what happened! How did J.D die?!_"

He was yelling at her now, angry with her, she knew he had a good reason for it; her childish behavior had to be put to an end if she wanted to speak clearly to him, but her heart would not allow it. Try as she might, she only managed to stammer bits and pieces of sentences, meaningless words that flowed out of her mouth, one at a time.

_The red headed woman, that accursed crimson bitch sunk her teeth into her wrist. The pain shot up her arm in a moment's notice, making her vision turn black for a moment, blinding her with pain as the yellow rotten teeth sunk deep into her tender flesh. It felt like a jolt of electricity, coursed through her arm, forcing her mouth open into a sudden yelp of pain and the involuntary command to open her hand_

_Letting him go._

"I KILLED HIM!"

She cried all of a sudden. The floodgates broke, unleashing a tidal wave of emotions that washed all over her, letting loose the cries of pain and sorrow that escaped her lips as her entire body quivered with emotions. She broke out in hives, letting it all flow out of her.

Alice rushed over to her, not caring for the risk anymore. She knew Rain would probably get annoyed because of what she was about to do, but she did not care for it even one bit. All she wanted was to make the girl in front of her regain her spirit. She wrapped her slender arms around the girl's body, circling her shoulders and taking her as close as she could, her forehead now touching her chest.

"He was attacked…" she continued between sobs "He needed my help, he begged me"

"But I wasn't able to save him" she paused for a few seconds, taking air into her lungs

"It was my fault he died. I _killed_ him"

She broke free of Alice's hands, alienating herself from the girl once again, trying to regain at least some of her lost self respect. She broke once, once, and that is it. No more crying, no more nothing, she promised herself not to go through this again, she would not allow anyone seeing her break. Alice looked at her with large eyes, the usual shocked expression on her face; she could never understand what was going inside her mind, and it was good that she didn't. Rain did not want to be understood or sympathized with

She just wanted to get out of there.

"I'm sorry"

She apologized, either to 'One' or to herself, she couldn't tell. Quickly regaining her composure, she got back to being the cold hearted professional, or at least she hoped so. Her grip on the MP-5 was restored, the cold expression got back to her icy cold eyes and her quivering lips halted. She wiped the long wet trails off her cheeks and shook her head, trying to clear it up.

_**BOOM!**_

_**BOOM!**_

_**BOOM!**_

_She felt the heavy door rattle against her bodyweight, threatening to burst open as the grenades in his vest went off one at a time, sending shockwaves and deadly shrapnel everywhere. Inside her mind, she knew there was no chance he made it alive, or even at one piece, she knew the destructive power of the 'Shredder' Grenades, and what they could do at close range._

_He was gone._

She shook her head harder now, trying to rid herself of the voices and visions that plagued her mind. It worked to some extent, they were vague now, crying out over the horizon, far away from her ears. It was better that way, she could now focus on the mission ahead; leaving the Hive. She grabbed the small microphone on the comm. Unit and touched it again, just to check if it is still working, seeing that it was, she spoke into it, not with a weepy, girly voice, but with her old, never faulting SEAL voice

"What's out next move?"

(--T--)

"Contact!"

He raised his weapon high and unleashed a short burst of weapon's fire; the gun rattled in his steady grip as fire and lead were thrown out the barrel, hitting the creatures in front of him, lighting up the dark corridor in a sudden flash of gunfire. They dropped to their knees, only to take another burst to the middle of the face, a bullet for each as loud gunfire rose above the moans and groans emitted from their decaying mouths.

"They're behind us!"

One of his two teammates cried. He turned his head back to see another, much larger group of those men and women approaching them. They seemed to be swarming from everywhere; laboratories, offices, corridors, empty, unused rooms. There were so many of them, enough to block out sight to the continuation of the hallway as they kept walking and shuffling towards the small group of three men. He turned back to see one of them; a man in a grey business suit, inches from his face, his mouth was wide open, revealing rotten teeth and a blackened tongue.

"Fuck!"

He cursed, grabbing his weapon by the stock and the barrel and thrusting the magazine directly into the thing's face, blowing him back as blood and teeth broke out between his bloody and torn lips. He regained a normal grip on the gun and fired into the thing's head, blowing a large chunk of it away in a cloud of red mist. His teammate charged ahead of him now, advancing into a group of about ten of those people, his VK-12 gripped tightly in his gloved hands.

"Die, _motherfuckers_"

The shotgun's barrel roared fire as the black slug escaped in a mind blowing speed, digging itself into a woman in a blue suit's left shoulder and blowing it completely off, ripping flesh and bone in an explosion of gore. She was blown back a bit, but regained her ground quickly and hissed at him with obvious rage.

_Chlick-Tsak_

He pumped the shotgun, allowing a red shell case to fall to the ground. Firing again, the bullet embedded itself in the woman's nose, blowing her upper jaw completely off, tearing half of her head apart as her numb body collapsed. He pumped again, killing another blonde woman with a bloodied face, and again, this time a man in blue technician wearing fell down to the ground, a gaping hole in his forehead. He kept firing, taking more of them to the ground and their eternal rest in peace, or pieces for that matter, not missing a single shot at the oncoming creatures.

"Grenade out!"

His other squad member's arm stretched out far as a single green object escaped from it. The N6A3 hand grenade flew directly into the large group of people, actually hitting one of them over the head, without much affect. The group seemed to not notice the deadly device thrown into their ranks and kept shuffling forward for about two or three more steps before the latter went off in a horrendous display of fire and blood, literally taking them apart as the shockwave tore through flesh and bone and shrapnel flew everywhere, slicing and dicing the group into a bloody pulp, scattering them about the hallway and spraying the front of his black armor with blood.

The grenade's explosion spread enough light through the corridor so that they could get a momentary glace at their surroundings; more silhouettes of those things flashed in the back of the hallway, they were coming by the hordes, and no matter how many rounds or grenades they had, fighting from a fixed position against a swarming enemy is never a good idea, especially because their gunfire would attract more of those things.

They had to get moving.

"Advancing!"

The one wielding the shotgun started moving ahead, cutting through the ranks of those things as they came at him with slugs from his weapon, pumping time and time again and tearing through numerous bodies of men and women as they approached him. Behind him, his two teammates were following close; one was covering him with his automatic fire, aiding him whenever he needed to reload and trimming down the numbers of those creatures as they were coming, the last of them readied his ASP Semi Automatic sniper rifle in his hands and unleashed occasional three bullet bursts into the crowd behind them; the high-power rounds tore through more than one body as they traveled through the air, bringing two or three of the creatures down with a single burst, he couldn't spare any rounds as the fifteen round magazine was limiting him greatly, with only sixty rounds at his disposal, he placed every shot in its proper place, firing at seldom and only if those things came too close for comfort.

Up ahead, the torches on both men's guns shone across an open door which was not computer operated; only a simple manual steel door that led into an unknown room. If they were lucky, perhaps they could take momentary cover in the room to think up an escape plan, and attempt to reestablish communication with their mother unit.

"In there!" The soldier with the G2A2 commanded. His shotgun wielding squad mate replied with a nod as the two began cutting a path towards the room; their weapons roared death into the crowd ahead of them as more and more bodies fell to the floor, a man on the ground moaned, not yet killed, but was swiftly applied with a powerful kick to the cheek that broke his neck with a sickening crack sound. The soldier treaded over the man's body and placed another large slug in the face of a bald man in a black T-shirt and jeans, his head imploding in a gory display of blood and bone fragments that flew everywhere. Occasionally, the one wielding the ASP Rifle would assist them with a random burst that tore through several of those people.

The three kept their ongoing march of death towards the black doorway in hopes of earning relative safety, but it seemed too long to go through. Blood puddles littered the floor and splattered across the walls with every single short fired by their weapons, spreading more and more horror across the long dark corridor as splats of blood sprayed from bodies and onto walls, onto them and onto everywhere, even the ceiling was beginning to drip blood as splats which went upwards made contact with it. On their way, a man suddenly lounged at them from one of the many doorways scattered across them hallway; he took the one with the VK-12 by surprise, not enabling him to get a clear shot, but the latter thought quickly and applied a swift spinning kick to the man's side. He groaned in response and fell to the ground, where a heavy army boot secured him to the white flooring. The soldier planted the barrel of the shotgun in the middle of the man's head and pulled the trigger, scattering it on the ground. Before he could react, another lounged, this time from the main horde. He turned around and hit him square in the face with the side of his weapon, making him stagger backwards, only to be shot by his teammate's automatic fire.

As they reached the door, the two leading men turned around away from the door and started a melee with the creatures around them, conserving ammunition as they were hitting at the human-like things with their weapons, or plainly kicking them away with powerful roundhouse kicks whilst the third one was preoccupied with picking the lock on the door. Eventually, he gave up and drew his pistol, blowing off the lock with a single shot and opening the door. The three warriors immediately slipped in, the latter closing the door after him and leaning against it with his entire bodyweight

"Block it! Now!" he barked at the remaining two soldiers in his mechanized voice. Having blown out the lock, his teammate has rendered the door useless as a blockade of any kind, forcing him to lean against the door in an attempt to stop the oncoming onslaught of creatures that pounded the steel barrier mercilessly, threatening to shatter it at any given moment. The two quickly complied, hauling a large metal table and pushing it against the door and finally blocking it effectively.

"Hit the lights"

One of them popped open a flare and placed it on the table. It didn't take long for it to ignite in a sudden burst of white light that blinded them for a second, but it quickly died down to provide great illumination to the room. It was a maintenance room of some sort; shelves spread all across the small room, littered with various office supplies and cleaning products. The table they pressed against the door had a clipboard attached to it, on its pages were various dates and times, probably written down to tell whenever someone took out something out of the room, Umbrella were known for their tedious order and discipline issues. The three scanned the room for an escape route, a way out to get past the people outside, but got none; the only way out was via the same door they entered, and whatever was waiting behind.

"Up there"

He pointed upwards, turning the attention of both his teammates to the large vent above their heads; it looked large enough for them to squeeze through, and surely would lead them away from those things outside. Another of them got on the table and broke the metal net that stood between them and the duct. He peered inside, gun first, in order to check for threats inside the small confound space. Finding none, he jumped down and nodded with approval to his two teammates.

"Hold on" The one with the shotgun said "We've got a signal"

_Finally_, they all heaved. All it took now was to contact their mother unit, from there on, fixing an extraction plan should not be much of a problem.

"Command" one of them spoke "This is Echo-Six, do you read? Over"

"_Loud and clear, Echo-Six, what's the sit-rep?_"

"The mission has failed. Repeat mission failure. There's been an outbreak of sort and the primary objective is beyond achieving. Requesting immediate extraction, over"

"_Negative, soldier_"

There was a reply, but the voice was not the voice of the Command unit, not mechanized and static, but more human-like. It was a low, snake like hiss that emitted not from the soldier's earpiece, but from the inside of his mind. He knew that voice.

Fettel.

(--T--)

Cameras flashed, giving off white explosions that blinded the men standing on the high platform. One by one, white explosions came in front of them in rapid succession, forcing them to actually shield their eyes from the cameras' flashes. A barrage of questions was thrown at the four men standing over there, behind the wooden pedestal marked with the Umbrella logo, but they mixed into a salad of words, not making any sense to the ears of the men.

One of them took a step ahead and raised both his hands into the air, stopping the reporters' constant babble. He wore a black suit, composed of a dark sweater and black jeans. His skin was very pale, suited for a man who doesn't go out much, or at least go out during day time, on his face were a pair of dark sunglasses, hanging from the bridge of his nose and his hair was brown.

"If you could just ask like civilized humans, I'll answer whatever question you have"

He was disgusted by them; news reporters, they swarmed every little bit of information like a pack of hungry vultures, tearing away at it and turning it upside down, twisting it until it suited the Six O'clock news report perfectly. This was no exception; somehow, someone inside Umbrella leaked out information about the Hive outbreak to a Raccoon 7 news reporter by the name of Terri Morales and in a matter of minutes, Umbrella was accused of everything from Bio-Terrorism to kidnapping small children to use as test subjects

Truly a P.R Nightmare.

Albert Wesker shifted on his feet from side to side, inspecting the large horde of reporters that had swarmed the front of Raccoon City hall as each and every one of them scrambled for a notepad or a tape recorder, aiming to document every single second of this ordeal. If he could, he would've ordered the five men behind him to open fire directly into the crowd. The U.B.C.S, or Umbrella Biohazard Containment Squad, was not an efficient strike force like their commando units, but when it came to opening fire into a motionless crowd in an order to cause as many fatalities as possible, he was confident of his men's ability.

"Mr. Wesker, any comment on what is known as the Hive outbreak?"

Terri Morales, a fearless news reporter sporting a cyan business suit that clashed against her well tanned skin and short dark hair, shot the question at the man in black standing above her, extending an arm wielding a small silvery tape recorder.

"I don't know about any Umbrella product known as the Hive" he spoke smoothly, his voice not faulting even once as he fed those hungry information scavengers with his lies

"Maybe if you'll tell me what-"

"What is the T-Virus?" another reported, a young man with red hair jumped him, cutting him off in mid speech

"How is it transferred, is it fatal?" asked another man, lowering his head and writing something in his notepad

"Do the people living in the Spencer mansion have anything to do with it?"

"Are S.T.A.R.S involved?"

"What are the symptoms of the T-Virus' infection?"

"Is there a cure?"

"Does this outbreak have anything to do with the 1998 Arkley attacks?"

(--T--)

A remote control's button was clicked, turning off a large television set that was displaying Wesker's failed attempt of controlling the crowd of humans in front of him. Cain chuckled dryly; the man was genius in everything genetic, but failed miserably when it came to handling people. He got up from his seat and once again paced across the room, the same way he has been doing ever since this damned crisis began.

"Any news?"

"Yes sir" replied one of the lab technicians "The F.E.A.R team breached into the Hive and are currently making their way into the Server Hub. I estimate it would not take them longer than fifteen minutes to remove the Memory Drive"

He grinned with satisfaction, if everything will go as planned; the team of imbeciles would remove any logged data of the outbreak before the Red Queen's systems would release it to the U-Net, where the many hackers that penetrate the system despite all the security measures placed would be able to read it freely.

Needless to say, he didn't want that happening one bit.

"Remove all outside communication to the Red Queen, turn her back on"

The words rolled off his lips coldly; with any luck, the Queen's defenses would kill more than a few of the F.E.A.R unit's troopers and then no one would know about what happened there. Absolutely no one

"Yes sir"

(--T--)

The three stepped ahead in the dark corridor, lead by Alice and Rain's flashlights. 'One's new orders depicted a new meeting spot, near the elevator shafts. He had given them exact instructions as to how to get there and right now, they were making their way towards the destination. Resistance was minimal, if any, as none of those things appeared; it seemed they had all vanished off the face of the earth, or hell for that matter.

Suddenly, Rain stopped, halting the progress of the entire group. She leaned forward, letting go of her gun and using both her arms to support her weight as her legs turned to Jell-O. The world was spinning around her, voiced distorted in her ears, every single nerve in her body was screaming with pain as it raced through her body with nausea. She brought a hand to her mouth and sealed her lips shut, closing her eyes in an effort to keep her meal inside her stomach, where it belongs.

"Rain, what's wrong?"

It was Matt, he and Alice raced to stand by the fighter's side, looking at her with concerned eyes as she leaned forward, taking in deep breaths to settle the nausea drilling inside her stomach. Her eyes were wide; she could hear her pulse in her ears, thumping mercilessly against her thin eardrums, bringing incredible pain through her body.

Suddenly, just as it came, it stopped.

She settled her breath, the world stopped spinning, finally giving her the option to stand back straight. She took one more big breath and closed her eyes, reopening them with restored stamina and strength

"Nothing" she said in her usual tone, lying for the second time "I'm fine"

(--T--)

Despite her lies, nothing was fine with Rain's body

Inside her body, cells were imploding; red orbs simply detonating, releasing a blue liquid into her blood stream, contaminating the clear liquid around them as more and more blue liquid flowed, destroying cells and corrupting nerves. The nausea was only the first symptom of infection.

What was more to come was much, much worse.

(----------X----------)

Yay! Entry One is done with. Sorry I had to cut it short, I just had to release it as fast as I could, and besides, I don't think it's that short really. For all it's worth, I'll try to make it up for you in the next entry and the one after it.

Remember to drop a review, 'Till next week

Bye!


	9. Entry Two: Early Sightings

Holy Mother on a ing sandwich and baloney! I think my mind is playing tricks on me! Could it be? Is it possible that the almighty _**Xmaster**_ has reviewed my story? All those hours begging finally paid off, my goodness! Thanks for the positive feedback, man, you have no idea how much it means to me that an RE writer like you reviews my fic. By the way, I'm glad to tell you that, well, at least by my early draft, Ben (Chad) Kaplan IS supposed to be one of the survivors.

Now for my dear _**Tanya Adams 64**_, thank you for reviewing again, and for helping me pick out a name for my fic. Unfortunately, there's seems to be a tie between both names as _**Chief Ratchet **_has voted for the other one. Never mind that, I'm gonna have to come up with a name by myself. No biggie.

Hey, _**Chief**_, funny you mentioned the F.E.A.R Unit in your review, because here they are, returning with all their glory and awesomeness in this next entry called Early Sightings.

I've added another gauge to the list; aside from the usual Mission Time and Location, there will also be a third one, entitled Time Elapsed, this gauge is made specifically for the F.E.A.R Unit and was created in order to not screw up the Mission Times (in case things take place before the happenings of previous intervals)

Interval Four: Contact  
Entry Two: Early Sightings

Time Elapsed: 00:02:16:00.  
Location: Floor Eleven- Outside Lavatory 14.

"Oh… my… _god_"

Maya's eyes nearly bulged out of their holes as they widened with each and every passing second she spent looking at her environment. Her blood ran cold in her veins, sending powerful chills up her spine that would've caused her to shiver like crazy, had her body not been rooted to the ground, unable to move, to think, to feel anything beside the horrible nausea that attacked her stomach constantly. She could literally feel her skin turning pale and her hair standing on the back of her head as a result of the disgusting sight. Her grip on the Tavor tightened as her eyes slowly closed, feeling the strong plastic structure of the weapon in her arms and driving some of the nausea away, hoping to settle her food back in her stomach.

She reopened her eyes. It was all still there, no matter how much she stared at it, the sight never turned less disturbing, still driving the same familiar feeling of sickness to her body, and weakening her.

Blood

So much blood

She stood facing one direction of the long hallway that led to their destination; the Server Hub, darkness reigned supreme there, hiding the horror that dwelled inside, but the torch mounted at the bottom of her weapon penetrated it with ease, revealing to her what was meant to be covered, what she wished not to see, and not to remember, but the image was burnt into her mind's eye, not willing to budge, mo matter how hard she tried

The corridor in front of her was littered with bodies, littered being a severe understatement; they were all over the floor, covering it like a morbid rug, or flooring tiles. There was blood everywhere; the crimson liquid even reached the ceiling at some points. She could sustain the sight of the bodies; she's been through mass graves before, when she went to missions abroad, meeting with the handiworks of religious fanatics or terrorists, something both combined. Hell, she was even forced to take cover in one when her squad was being hunted by an enemy military force.

But the blood was something else

If she decided to look at it in a comic point of view, it would seem like an entire morgue simply exploded onto the corridor; blood, severed limps and bodies were scattered everywhere, but it was the blood that got to her; she was almost kicked out of Squadron 13 because of her fear of blood, but was eventually kept there because of the supreme fighting skills that got her there in the first place.

She tried to focus on something else than the blood in order for her temper to be kept in check, but it wasn't working. Her eyes concentrated on the red color, no matter how hard she tried seeing through it, there was just so much of it. She couldn't avoid the crimson as it filled every inch of the corridor, her instincts wanted her to run, to move away from the place, but she knew she could not do that, not until the mission is complete. Placing the nausea and the sickness beside, or at least trying to, she tried to get past those feelings, for the sake of the mission.

"Looks kinda familiar, doesn't it?"

Slinger's smoggy comment hung in the air as he left the room and took a look on his surroundings. He had only seen so much death in one place in his entire life; Auburn City

The bloodied walls, the corpses laying around in complete disarray, it was just like back then, the carnage was as horrendous and dreading as it was before, when he lead the backup team into the urban war zone, and found chaos; there were bodies of soldiers everywhere; Replicas, ATC security guards, civilians and police forces, it seemed like something had just… tore them up, shredded them to pieces like paper and left them on the floor.

He walked in between the two, both his hands wielding black AT-14's, one pointed forward and the other slightly upward, checking both ends of the corridor and also looking after both his teammates; the two looked like they were in deep shock. He couldn't blame them, only he and the team that he led into the city saw those horrors, all the bodies and blood, most of the members in his unit retired for psychiatric reasons once the mission was over, they just couldn't handle and process all that death, and now, he saw the same look his teammates had in his friends' eyes. He did not like it.

"You okay, man?" he asked and patted Spooks on his shoulder, snapping him out of his trance. The latter turned his head around, giving his friend an approving half-look

"Just a little shook up"

His voice returned to normal, and Sling could see the color was also getting back to his skin, good. The gunman turned around and faced Mai's back now, inching himself from her ear, he didn't want anyone, including Spooks to hear what he was about to say

"You can wait for us in the room; we'll say you fainted due to oxygen lack or something. You don't have to go through this"

He spoke softly, trying to calm the girl down. She once saw him accidentally cut his arm while he was cleaning one of his guns, and he was an easy bleeder. The girl nearly fainted at the sight of the large amount of red liquid that poured out of his wrist. That was when she told him about her fear of blood; he knew she must have been going through hell in front of him, which was why her answer surprised him.

"I'm fine"

He knew she was lying, but decided not to push harder on the subject. He was not the one to interfere with other people's businesses, and this was no exception. Nodding, he broke away from her and motioned the remaining two members of the team out of the room with his head.

The Point man took a look around him, this was all too similar, the resemblance was much too accurate for it to be true. Even though he seemed not phased at all by the look of the corridor, his insides were churning with acid and bile. He walked past the two guards as Tai joined the group, looking as scared as a mouse as she peered around her in small, bird-like motions. He knew she would never admit to being actually scared, but it was evident on her pale face and body language that the girl was terrified beyond her imagination.

He bent down near one of the corpses and inspected it thoroughly; the man seemed to have been dead for quite some time now, his body displaying signs of early decomposition, pale skin, blue lips, the inverted eyes and the reeking stench of death as unnatural bumps of purple color decorated the man's chalk-white skin. He was dead for no longer than seven hours, about the time the viral outbreak started.

There were shell casings next to the man, suited for the single hole in his head; they were larger than the average, even the untrained eye could see that. Their color, golden, bright gold, brighter than usual brass, shone hard against light from the torches. He inspected it closely, spinning it between three of his fingers

"6.72…"

He got up and threw the empty case to his side, allowing it to make contact with one of the walls, ringing off it with a delicate sound being emitted from the hit. Swearing inwardly, he turned towards the rest of his team

"Replicas"

There was venom is his voice when he said that word, it felt his throat had been sand-papered as it rolled off his lips. The remaining four troops could do nothing but to stare at the carnage and realize just how lethal Replica Units are; cold blooded mindless drones with only one intention in life: Killing.

"I… I don't…"

They all turned around to find the source of the faint voice; Tyler was leaning against one of the walls, blood was smearing on her palms, arm and uniform, but she didn't seem to mind that. Her pale face seemed drained of all color, even her usual red lips were now barely bright pink in color, her eyes half closed and her head pointed down, staring at an invisible point on the floor. The girl fought hard against the nausea that's been turning inside her stomach; she never even saw a dead body in her life, only in those stupid movies she used to see. She gagged as the feeling of her lunch coming up engulfed every fiber of her existence, unable to sustain it any further, she leaned forward and vomited.

She coughed a bit once done, head still looking down, weakness striking through her body and stopping her from getting up, but was quickly picked up as two slim arms were shoved below hers and pulling her a bit closer to the figure behind her. She could feel the sturdy layer of Kevlar in her vest against her back and the long strands of her hair that brushed against her face

"It's okay, little Tai, you just got a little scared" Her voice spoke softly, making the younger girl feel like her mother was talking to her.

Maya released her grip on the girl and handed her a black bottle of water, which she took rather quickly, thanking her and gulping down the cold liquid inside to rid her mouth of the bad taste that dwelled inside it. She handed the older soldier the bottle and regained her composure, scanning the rest of the group with her eyes; they were all looking at her with concerned looks in their eyes. Maybe that was what Collins was talking about; maybe she wasn't experienced enough for that sort of a mission, maybe she should have stayed back at the Forward Command Post F.E.A.R had set up

No!

She shook her head a little, ridding herself of what little nausea remained there, and raised her eyes up with regenerated stamina and the same spark she had in her eyes when she spoke to Collins back at the H.Q. She wouldn't back down, not so early on the mission, not when her teammates, her friends, were counting on her

"I'm okay, we can go"

The group nodded and headed further down the long corridor, a heavy scent of burnt gunpowder hung in the air as they advanced on and on. The amount of bodies seemed to relatively lower as they progressed through towards their destination, no longer covering the whole floor, but now placed at random here and there, each laying neatly with a bullet hole in the forehead or other part of the skull. The Point Man found that odd; from his previous experience with Replicas, their guns were always set to Burst Fire, and they always aimed towards center mass, that is to say, the chest and stomach, yet all the kills he saw during his walk were headshots, and judging by the gun powder marks he saw on some of the bodies, the shootings were made in a very close range, almost point blank. It made him wonder; if the Replicas simply slaughtered all those people, why use single fire at close range instead of simply spraying into the crowd from a distance? And why were those people in the corridor in the first place? Didn't the Red Queen shut down all the doors and gas everyone to death?

"I seriously don't like the atmosphere of this place" Spooks commented dryly as he moved in the back of the pack, covering their rear

"That makes two of us, man" Sling replied "I have some issues with this blackout, got a bad feeling about it"

"Actually, the blackout is a good sign" Tai joined into the conversation "It means the Commandos rebooted the Queen to override the Lockdown protocol, it means that at least some of them are alive"

Sling was about to reply when the loud noise of a shotgun being pumped filled his ears. The group stopped and turned their heads around towards Spooks. The latter had both his hands on the large black weapon and was scanning the floor thoroughly and focusing on a group of six bodies in various outfits that were cluttered together on the floor, one of them, a man in a greed shirt, having a very visible entry wound on his back. Spooks' beam of light shone at the mass of corpses for a few more seconds before the man finally let out a small sigh and shook his head

"Thought I saw movement"

The rest nodded and kept moving, but Sling was still bothered; how could his teammate even _think_ that man had moved when it was clearly visible that he had an entry wound the size of a frigging baseball in his back? Was his friend losing it? Nah couldn't be, he knew Spooks long enough to know he was able to digest what they have seen without going insane, but the thought still lingered in the back of his mind, fueling his paranoia.

He moved up to the head of the pack, much to the Point Man's dismay and quickened his pace towards the end of the corridor; a sharp turn. He stood next to it, supporting himself with the wall and waiting for the rest of the team, one of the pistols in his hands resting against the cold metal wall. He could move much faster than the rest of the team, his lack of a main firearm earning him a slight weight advantage over his teammates whose guns and ammunition were much heavier than his and slowed them down. Taking on the role of the scout, he rounded the corner and stared into the darkness, not even able to see six feet ahead of him

An electric buzz caught his attention; he looked up for a second to see the white florescent light flickering back on, first was an initial dim glow, but then all the power reserves kicked in; making the long electric tubes emit a relatively bright blow light into the corridor.

"She's done rebooting, power's back" Tai spoke behind him, making his head turn towards the direction of her voice, but as his head turned back, he gasped in surprise; a group of about fifteen men and women were shuffling towards him slowly, stumbling on their feet as they took one slow step at a time

"So much for correct Intel" he said sarcastically, lowering his pistols "I thought Umbrella told us all the Civies are dead"

"What're you…"

The rest of the team now came around the corner and rested their eyes on the large group that shuffled towards them; true, they didn't look their best, their skin was a little pale and they seemed to be suffering from a bad case of fatigue, forcing them to lower their heads as they did not even have the strength required to hold it up

"Oh"

Sigma One took another look on the group, things were just not right in his mind, there were too many mistakes in Umbrella's intelligence; there were bodies in the corridors, when they should've all been locked inside the rooms, some of the bodies he encountered had multiple machine gun bullet wounds in their torso and he could almost smell the Halon gas off their clothing, yet the blueprints showed that the Halon containers and automated defenses are only located inside the offices and labs, not in the corridors. Something was wrong

"Keep an eye open" he eventually said "There's something off with them"

"I disagree, sir" Mai replied, lowering the large black weapon in her hands to a stand-down "They're just a little sick"

As the group headed towards them, they crossed directly under one of the electric tubes, shining blue light directly on them. One of the men at the front raised his head and snarled at them; his eyes were pasty white, his face completely pale, and a large stain of blood was covering his mouth, dripping onto his white shirt which had more than a few large bullet holes inside it

"Okay…" she continued, taking back her words "They're _very _sick"

"Instructions?" Sling asked, turning his head a bit towards the rest of the group. The Point Man replied by pulling on the slide of his RPL and leveling it with the cannibals

"Engage!"

Both he and Maya opened fire, the rattling of gunfire echoed through the silence of the blue lit hallway as flashes of yellow and white muzzle fire mixed into the deep blue lighting. It took affect on the cannibals immediately as the first blast of gunfire made it to their ears; the man with the white shirt jolted from side to side as bullets made contact with his body, then fell to the floor, his companions were soon to join him, the bullets making precision hits with deadly accuracy into their bodies, reducing them to a pile of corpses on the ground.

The two lowered their weapons, inspecting the damage they caused. Sigma One was about to motion them to continue when dread struck his eyes, making them widen into an inhuman size; the bodies, the people he and Mai had just killed

They were getting up

The first rose slowly, stumbling back to her feet with complete disregard to the four bullets lodged deeply into her heart. A second, third and forth came sonly after, also having fatal entry wounds in their bodies, and much like the blonde woman who rose before them, completely ignoring it.

"What the fuck…?" Tyler trailed off, her eyes glued to the unbelievable sight which unfolded in front of her eyes. Those people, _no_, creatures, they came back from the dead. She knew what they were, but could not believe it, she thought those things only existed in movies, movies she liked very much; horror movies, the type of movies that have a lot of characters dying in them.

"Fall back!"

He didn't know what to do, he wasn't flying solo like he was used to, he had a team now, he was directly responsible to the lives of each and every one of the four men and woman under his command, and he now had to do serious thinking before taking any move deeper towards their destination, especially with those men and women they encountered.

"Uh, sir?"

Spooks' voice made him turn around; in front of the man's shotgun, another group of those things was getting to its feet, it didn't take long before they also began shuffling towards them, much to the dark skinned man's panic.

"I think we'll have a small problem with that"

The group of five stood there, trapped between two oncoming walls of people that, as far as they knew, could not be killed, sweat started forming on their bodies, cold sweat of fear and terror. Their grip on their weapons tightened, eyes narrowing at the creatures shuffling towards them, the things moaned in a inhuman way, the vacant look in their eyes was much more obvious the closer they got, and the fact that became clear to the members of the strike made each of them shiver individually in their own panic; they were dead.

But it wasn't stopping them from walking around.

"Fucking kill 'em!"

Sling yelled; the panic in his body finally reaching its boiling point and exploding out as the man lifted his arms into the air, aligning the two AT-14's in his hands with the bodies of the creatures ahead of him and unleashing a high-caliber fury into their bodies. His index fingers pulled back on the triggers time after time as his body tilted, crossing his barrels with more of the things.

"Heads, aim for the heads!"

The Point Man returned with a yell, he remembered in a flash moment of all the bodies he saw when they were walking earlier; they were all dead, not getting up like the one's in front of them, and they only had bullet markings in one place; the head.  
He brought his RPL up to his shoulder, his eye aligning within the Reflex Sight on the top of his weapon, throwing a red dot in the middle of one of the thing's pale face. He pulled the trigger and felt the almost unnoticed recoil of the weapon as a burst of small rounds escaped into the target ahead, slicing it clean and exiting through the other side, leaving the body to crumble as its life force ran along with the bullets that escaped its cranium

"It's working!"

He called with triumph, causing a small grin to form on Christian's lips. The man tilted his arms, causing the black pistols to be tilted by ninety degrees, both facing him, he pulled on the triggers in rapid succession, not stopping for a heartbeat even as casings from his own weapon fire collided against his gloves. He continued firing without mercy, bringing the pack of undead ahead of him to the floor, a red entry wound decorating each of their foreheads

Behind him, Spooks was getting ready to fire again, he brought the long barrel of his M1014 to the face of a snarling woman and fired, blowing her face completely apart, mangling it as the large slug simply caused the woman's head to implode, parts of it simply detaching from the skull and flying off in a perfect orchestra of gore. He quickly picked three more targets and fired in rapid succession, enjoying the benefit of a gas operated shotgun that did not require a pull on the pump before every shot took place as gaping holes were blown open through their now unrecognizable faces

Tyler was fighting hard against the scream of terror that demanded to be unleashed from her throat; those were Zombies! The Living Dead! She couldn't believe her eyes, she was positive of one of either two conditions; either she was dreamed all this, or the second, and much worse option was that she was going insane. Deciding to pick neither, she just continued staring wide eyed as her teammates continued to fight those atrocities

She suddenly saw Spooks was reaching for his pocket for a reload, but those things were still coming closer to him, none of the others could do anything, they were too busy killing the horde that kept swarming them, she couldn't realize where they were coming from, there were only fifteen when the fight started, they seemed to have been merging from thin air!

"Spooks, watch out!"

Her hand reached for her thigh, pulling out a black AT-14 and pulling back on the hammer to load the weapon. Her aim faulted when she fired at first, the bullet connecting with the creature's shoulder and causing it to jolt back, the second made contact with the middle of its ribcage, even tearing a button off the man's expensive shirt. The third one was right on the mark, between the man's eyes. His throat let out a long gurgle of death before his body followed, collapsing to the ground.

"Go, go, go!"

The Point Man shouted and started an offensive advancement, striking more of the things as he proceeded down the corridor. They weren't 'advancing', they were running away, trying to gain as much distance from the large group that followed them slowly down the hall. A bullet fired by Mai's Tavor buried into the head of another female with a bloody mouth, finishing off the last of the creatures in front of them. Now there was only the swarm that formed behind them and was approaching them slowly. Spooks knew they could keep running, but eventually they'll either tire out or make a mistake, they had to get rid of them

He slung the M1014 behind his back and brought the VK-12 to his hands, the slower firing pump action shotgun, reaching for one of his pockets and pulling out a single, large red shell with a tiny silver dial on the side of the casing; a U-449 Flachette shell.

"Gimmie an estimate!" he yelled, taking a small pin from his vest and sticking it inside the dial

"Fifty Two… Fifty Four feet!" Maya yelled back. Spooks complied, moving the pin inside the dial and matching the numbers shown on the tiny metal slabs to the ones she cried out: 5-4, the distance between him and the target had to be calculated perfectly to ensure a maximum kill-zone with the shell. He pulled back on the pump and stuffed the shell inside the firing chamber, bringing the weapon up to his shoulder and aiming directly into the crowd

"Firing!"

_As his index pulled back on the trigger, a series of mechanics kicked into motion; springs inside the weapon's trigger section unwinding, releasing their momentum into a large lever looking object that was attached to a small silver pin. The pin itself struck the back of the red shell, making contact with a specific point and igniting the pressure sensitive explosive, the black material phasing into a large amount of hot gasses within a millisecond and launching the forward portion of the shell ahead, through the barrel and out of it, escaping with a long stream of fire and smoke behind it, causing the hulk-of-a-man who was holding the gun to be pushed back a bit as a result of the recoil_

_The silvery slabs on the side of the shell were counting down in a mind blowing speed the closer it got to the pack, the shell itself rotating around itself to gain more and more momentum as it brought itself to inches away from the group in a matter of milliseconds from once it left the barrel_

_5-4-3-2-1-0_

_Another explosive charge inside the shell went off and unleashed a swarming death as millions of tiny, almost microscopic metal darks were released towards the advancing horde at near-supersonic velocities, ripping them to shreds and reducing them to nothing more than a mass of airborne blood_

Spooks pulled back on the pump, ejecting the empty shell out and allowing it to hit the floor with a satisfying sound

'Cha-Cling'!

"Please, don't you EVER do it again!" Tyler yelled, mortified by how much firepower was packed into just one of those shells. She knew they were outlawed for humanity reasons, but could never have guessed how gruesome their method of operation was.

"Hope I'll never have to" he replied and continued "What were those things?"

"I don't know, nor do I want to" The Point Man replied this time, ejecting his empty 50 round magazine and replacing it with a fresh one, slamming it into the feeding chamber of the RPL and hitting the quick-load button.

"All I know is that Umbrella is gonna have some serious explaining to do once we get out"

He calmed himself, taking a single, slow breath. This rage wasn't helping him with anything, on the contrary; it was very much potent to even worsen their odds in completing the mission. He looked at the door beside him; it was defiantly different than any of the other doors that were scattered along the hallway; just by looking at it he was able to distinguish it was much heavier than any of the other doors, a few thin red lines ran across it, tripwires for sure, to trigger some alarm. He remembered what their Umbrella contact told them before they went on with the mission; that they were on the same floor as their target

"What's our location?"

The teenage girl flipped a Mini-Com located on her forearm and punched in a few keys. The screen was now showing her with a map of the area, defined by a green color in different shades; bright ones to mark walls and doors, and plain green to indicate passageways and such. She turned her head towards him

"Main Server Hub. We're here"

With those words out, the team prepared itself for infiltration; each of them ceasing whatever he, or she were doing and readying another fresh magazine into their weapons, checking on their equipment and making sure once more that nothing was missing. They gave each other silent, approving nods while Sigma One approached the large door, there was a keypad next to it, and a slot for a magnetic card, obviously, they were not about to get in by twisting a doorknob.

"Hack it"

Tai complied, whipping out something from her pocket; it was a blank magnetic card, completely white, except for a black stripe running along one of its sides. There was a connection cable attached to the bottom of the card, composed of four thin gray cables connected into one in a row, much like the cables that connect a Hard Disc to the Mother Board. She plugged the cable into her Mini-Com and slid the card through the slot, making her computer read the data the keypad was demanding in order to be opened. Quickly typing along the small keys, she uploaded whatever data was necessary to unlock the door and slid the card again, the door opening wide and revealed a long corridor, about a 180 Feet in length, lit from the ceiling by a white florescent lighting.

"Sir, I don't like the looks of this, it's booby trapped if you ask me, requesting permission to advance and check"

Maya looked at her leader; the man seemed to have turned into stone as he just stared with her red visor into the inside of the room

"Sir?"

(--T--)

A blinding white light and a deafening screech encased each and every one of his senses as the door swung open. He knew what it mean, she wanted to tell him something, a warning perhaps, or maybe she just wanted to toy with him, the way she did before, back when he was chasing Paxton through the Replicas' base and the ATC Headquarters.

The lights faded, he was outside the door again, but there was no one next to him; Slinger, Spooks, Mai and Tai have vanished from sight, leaving him alone. He looked to his left and right, but saw nothing but darkness, obviously, whatever it was that Alma wanted to show him had something to do with the corridor.

He peered inside and was immediately taken by more of the blinding white light. As his eyes and ears readjusted themselves while the light faded, he could clearly see what he was staring into:

Death

A lot of death.

The vast multitude of his teammates were laying on the floor, or at least, that's was as far as he could see; they were craved into pieces, their limbs severed from their bodies and still smoking as thin red beams danced around them, slicing another piece of the flesh every time they crossed through an organ and severing another finger, arm or leg. Spooks' weapon was on the floor, a large portion of the barrel was sliced off and still red hot where the incision was made, right next to his legless body, which was cut from the waist up

"_Help… me…_"

It was Maya, he was crawling on the floor, one of her hands had been severed, along with both her legs, sliced off diagonally by the red beams. Another beam came and simply separated her torso from the rest of her body, she screamed in horrible pain, but for some reason refused to die, still crawling towards him. She almost reached him when another beam came right through his body, slicing her head and the rest of her body in half

Her eyes reversed while her mouth opened in a silent cry of death, falling to the floor and splitting in half, smoke still rising from the burnt flesh and dried blood, released an unbearable stench into the air

(--T--)

"Sir?" she asked again. He shook his head slightly, as if he was waking up from a dream and turned towards her with a questioning look behind the balaclava and the goggles

"Sorry, was thinking of something…" he answered quickly, coming up with a lie to hide the fact that he had just witnessed his entire team die

"What did you say?"

"I was asking if I could move ahead and see if the corridor's booby trapped, I don't the looks of it"

_her burnt hand almost reached his boot, her eyes looked up to him in such a pathetic stare, begging him to help her, to end the horrible pain she was in and rescue her, but then, another beam came, slicing her head directly in the middle, ending the horrible pain her body was in and finally bringing her to rest_

"No" He simply replied "I'll go first"

"Wh-" she was about to protest or ask something, but was halted even before she started by his raised hand

"I'm your leader for this mission, I'm the Point Man, and that means that I go first unless I say otherwise. Are we clear?"

She reluctantly nodded, but was taken aback by his words. There was a certain harness in his voice, a ferocity that wasn't there before, it was as if he was trying to protect her from going in there, like he knew something was wrong with that corridor, confirming her suspicion. He turned away from her and took a few cautious steps into the long corridor; his weapon drawn, eyes scanning up and down. He looked back and motioned the rest of them to follow by waving his hand, the complied, squeezing into the large doorway and following him in there.

Halfway through, still nothing wrong. His eyes were scanning every single inch of the place in the most thorough manner that he has ever done in his life. He just _knew_ something bad was going to happen; Alma showed him that vision for a reason, she warned him of something for a reason. He looked back at the rest of his team; they were moving in a crouched manner, following him in slow steps, their guns aimed forward, eyes darting everywhere cautiously

Two security cameras, located at the entrance of the hall, focused on the group, their lenses shifted in order get a better view of the five-man team that entered the access corridor

**Scanning….  
MATCH: NOT FOUND  
ALERT- - - INTRUDERS  
DANGER: EXTREME AND IMMENATE**

(--T--)

More than a few floors above them, in a darkened room filled with computers and three small screens that were turned off as a result of the power failure, one the screens suddenly lit up

**Red Queen System: UNDER ATTACK  
Intruders: UNKNOWN  
DANGER LEVEL- Unable to Determine (Default: EXTREME AND IMMENATE)**

**Level 7 Weapons System**

**----------Activated---------**

(--T--)

More security cameras erupted everywhere; the walls and the ceiling now housed at least six cameras each, and they were all turning and focusing on the single figure at the head of the back; The Point Man

"Fall back to the door!" he ordered at them with his raspy voice. He saw what became of them when they engaged with those beams, and did not want that to happen outside of Alma's world of death. He cared too much for those men and women.

He braced himself, bending his knees and grabbing tighter to his RPL, maybe, if he's lucky, he'll be able to shoot something and cause the beams to stop, but the vision told him nothing of such a thing, he would have to find it by himself. He saw the cameras adjusting themselves as he bent down, they were tracking him. Maybe if he took them out…

The thought did not even have enough time to end in his mind before the sound of hydraulics caught his attention; turning around, he saw a portion of the wall in front of him, just above the door he had to get through, had lifted to reveal a source of blinding red light. His entire body tensed as the light got brighter and brighter, eventually firing out as a single beam, traveling towards him at an insane speed.

His eyes widened as he felt the sudden warmth rush down his spine, like acid coursing down his back

_Byuuuuuuup_

_Everything in front of his eyes merged into a blur of white and red, but his eyes strained, defining the beam from the environment, it was coming at him, but much slower now, he had time to react before it struck his face. He considered sidestepping, but saw it was long past that, he had to hit the deck; he sent both his legs forward while throwing his arms backwards and spreading them. Normally, no human would be able to do that move fast enough, their reflexes would just not cut it_

_Lucky for him, he was everything BUT normal. _

_The beam made contact with the floor and was sent ninety degrees upwards to meet the ceiling. He assumed it was intercepted by a prism of some sort because it split in front of his eyes into six different beams, each chasing him from a different angle, all wishing to kill him_

_A first crimson beam came diving directly at his face, aiming to impale him as if it were a steak, but he was faster, placing his palms face down on the floor, he pushed himself forward and up, avoiding the beam. His vision blurred again when he turned his head at the distorted buzzing sound of a second beam as it reflected off one of the walls and aiming to slice him in half. He quickly ducked down and allowed it to sweep past him harmlessly when a third one came, going low and towards his feet. He collected enough strength and rocketed between the two beams as they came at him, somersaulting in midair and landing on his feet, just in time to roll aside and avoid another beam that screeched along the floor. The thought of running away crossed his mind, but was quickly averted when he saw two of the beams had formed a tight crisscross that separated him from the rest of his team as they stared at him with frightened eyes_

_He leaned against the wall for a single precious second, allowing his body to rest a little while the painful liquid kept burning down his spine, but his rest sonly ended as two more beams reflected off the opposing wall, aiming to cut him like a pair of scissors and forcing him to jump forward and down, leaping sideways just to avoid another guillotine-like beam that came crashing at him. He never used his ability, the one the scientists kindly nicknamed Slow-Mo for such an extent, never putting his body into such an effort as he was right now, it was beginning to take its toll on him_

_He leaped again, jumping over three beams that came at him at the same time in different heights and rolling under the fourth, he couldn't keep this up forever, either his muscles or his brain would give way sonly enough, he could feel it, and whenever that happens, he would be easy picking for the lasers._

"How can he move so fast?" Sling thought aloud, looking at his leader dodging the beams that came at him with almost inhuman skills and agility. His reflexes were unbelievably fast, and his speed had at leased doubled itself from the last time he saw him move, it was absolutely breath taking, to such an extent that it made the gunman completely forget the danger the man was in

"Who cares how? We gotta help him!"

Maya's scream pulled him back into the world of common sense, he knew the girl was right, they had to help him somehow, but he had no clue as to how. Suddenly, he looked up to see all the security cameras as they swiftly moved, zooming and focusing on the man and every move that he made, tracking his every step. Now, he knew what he had to do

"Already on it!"

He cleared every doubt and uncertainty that dwelled in his mind in the only way he knew how; with his pistols. The two black AT-14's rose as his fingers pulled on the triggers, his face distorting as his eyes squinted to see the cameras beyond the bright white light emitted by the light tubes above their heads, but each accurate bullet met with its mark, and the cameras were blown away into burning bits of black plastic, glass and wiring within seconds, each giving off a large display of electric sparks before going down and breaking apart on its stand

_That sound, gunfire! He moved aside and looked at his teammates; slinger was following the plan he had thought up, blowing up the cameras, thus taking out the laser's guidance systems, without it, they would have no target to follow, and maybe, just maybe, he could rest. The pain in the back of his head was numbing at that point, if he could, he would have stood still and just screamed his head off as pain tore through thee very fibers of his existence, but he kept going, just a few more seconds, it would all be over_

_The last of the cameras was shot off, and he found himself trapped at the corner, between the exit door and three beams that stood still as their guidance ceased to be, but there was a fourth beam, the very last one, still screaming towards him. He had no where to run, and no where to hide. This was it_

"The source, take out the source!!!"

Spooks and Mai complied, both raising their weapons high and taking aim at the large red dot above the door. They both fired; a long burst of rounds was sent off Maya's Tavor while Spooks' M1014 roared out a large slug. The impact was immediate, the source of the beams was destroyed in an explosion of red sparks and debris that spread everywhere, killing the beam at the very last second before it made contact with his body and face.

He collapsed to the ground, a beating pain in the back of his head threatening to kill him with agony, he couldn't even breathe because of the torment he was in, taking long and deep breaths in a vain attempt to stop the waves of pain that surged all over his body through his spine. He placed his palms on the floor, swearing to himself never to use Slow-Mo like that again, unchecked, for so long, almost a whole minute of he counted it and while manipulating his body in such a manner. He could literally feel his muscles were almost torn apart from the strenuous effort he had put them with. He wanted to pass out on the spot, but knew he couldn't, he had to keep going, there was a mission in his hands, lives were at stake, he couldn't just sit there waiting.

He needed a shot.

"The back… of my VEST!" he cried out, his voice rigid from pain that coursed through his body. They rushed at him, Mai kneeling beside him and searching his vest for whatever he wanted to take. Something sharp poked her finger, a needle of some sort. She hurried up and pulled whatever was there out; an injector, with a glowing yellow liquid stored at the cartridge loaded into it

"Shoot it to me… Please, hurry!" the pain he was going through was unimaginable, he knew they couldn't feel it the way he was, but he had to get that shot, he felt as though every nerve in his body was burning up with pain, every muscle about to tear, his skin was about to rip to shreds right from his flesh

All because of that accursed Slow-Mo

She struck the needle into his jugular and pulled the trigger. The piston kicked in and sent all the liquid directly to his bloodstream. His body tensed for a second, but quickly relaxed as he collapsed to the cold floor, passed out. There was silence for a few moments, in which the members of the team just stared at each other with confused eyes, unsure of what to say and do, until one of them spoke up

"How _did_ he move that fast?" It was Tai, a questioning look in her eyes

"I've heard of someone like him" Slinger started "But I don't want to spread any rumors, I respect him enough to not spread dirty lies at him, especially in a forum like this"

He had his doubts about that man even since he told him he knew Holiday, and the uniform he wore, it just suited the tales perfectly, but he still had doubts lingering in his mind, not willing to destroy the man's image in the team's eyes

"So what now?" Spooks asked

"We wait until he wakes up…" Sling said, taking a deep breath

"And then?" Tyler spoke this time. He exhaled

"Then he'll have some heavy-duty explaining to do"

(----------X----------)

Woohoo! Another one bites the dust! Hey, _**Chief**_, I sure hope you're happy, an entire episode dedicated to the F.E.A.R Team, I would've made it longer, but this One Week (That is to say, two days and a half) routine is forcing me to trim down Intervals and entries. If this bothers any of you, please note it in your review, and I'll just turn into a two week routine, I'm just fighting hard to keep with my own deadline and still having a life, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway

Another thing is that I hope you weren't disappointed by yet _**another**_ laser-hallway scene. I just had to show off the Point Man's Slow-Mo ability somewhere and just didn't know how, my co-writer suggested this and it sounded pretty awesome to me, hope you thought the same.

'Till next time guys, whenever you decide it to be. Bye!


	10. Entry Three: Meeting Point

Alright. Here's the four-one-one (WOW! RAPPER LANGUAGE!) On this entry; I couldn't believe it happened to me. In fact, I stayed in denial for about half an hour once I found out it did. But eventually, I was forced to submit to the dreadful thought:

I hit a writer's block.

I sat in front of the screen for hours, not able to write a single sentence without deleting it and then rewriting the exact same thing and deleting it again. It was friggin' depressing, guys, seriously, it was.

I have a bit of a confession to make; two weeks ago, my girlfriend, whom I loved and spent six months together with, broke up with me. NO, I'm not going Emo here, I'm just trying to say that it left me pretty shook up, and without much will to write, but the last entry was like halfway complete so I decided to finish it anyway, I hope you didn't notice the degrading in the writing style.

And now, _**Tanya, Chief**_, I was glad that you were able to enjoy the last entry, and hopefully you'll also be able to enjoy this one, despite its lack of length. I still tried my best at writing it just the way I did with Interval 4. I can only hope you'll like it

(----------V----------)

Interval Four: Contact  
Entry Three: Meeting Point

Mission Time: 4h 12m 53s  
Location: --Unable to determine (Reason) Interferences detected

"Sir, everything's okay?"

Kaplan's worried voice echoed through the emptiness of the elevator shaft. People always told him he worries too much, every single person he met has told him that at least once, but the man could not help it; being a medic, he knew there was danger in everything. Whenever he went out, either with his friends of by himself, he kept at least one medical kit in a backpack which was constantly resting on his back, even if it was just a short trip to the surface for groceries.

He secured his grip on another bar and looked up to see his leader; 'One' seemed to have an easy time climbing those ladder steps, placing his palms skillfully and climbing each step with unnerving speed as to reduce contact time between his hands and the metal bars as possible. He was somewhat ahead of him, but enough for the shorter man to see his leader's shape as it was shown by the emerald light emitted by the flare they had tossed down before climbing. He pushed himself up another step on the ladder and looked sideways at the wall which was lit by the flare's dim green glow; there were digits, the numbers 4 and 3, spray painted in a silvery tint on the black steel wall, they were between floor three and four, good, they should arrive at the third floor elevator door in no time.

"Just fine, Kap"

'One' replied. He didn't even look down at his teammate; stopping in his condition would result in great pain, he might be forced to let go of the bars due to the pain, something he didn't want to even consider doing, for some reason, falling down nine floors into oblivion did not seem to him like an ideal concept for a fitting end to his life.  
He quickly climbed up the remaining steps and reached floor three; there was a small platform sticking out of the walls, it was about two feet in length, probably used for maintenance purposes on the shafts. He heaved a sigh of relief; at least he wouldn't hang off the ladder while waiting for either Kaplan or Rain to open the doors and allow the two warriors trapped inside the elevator shaft to enter the third floor.

He climbed a few steps above the platform and leaped off; landing clearly on the narrow platform with his army boots thumping heavily against the metal, finally ridding his palms of all pain, his weapon was slung behind his back ever since he started climbing up that ladder. He took a few steps aside, allowing Kaplan to also move from the ladder to the platform, the latter taking his time when he moved between the ladder and the platform, slowly stretching an arm and a leg to reach over to the platform and then transferring completely.

"Can you open it from the inside?"

His leader asked him. The medic looked at the two heavy doors with a certain doubt lingering in his mind; unlike any other company who had elevators in its buildings, Umbrella chose not to construct its elevator systems from plain Aluminum or Tin, instead, it was made of an alloy of hardened steel and Titanium, materials which are usually used to make elevators in military bunkers to defend them from heavy duty attacks, like Bunker Buster warheads and their alike. Kaplan wished they had one of those Bunker Busters at their disposal, so they can simply blast the entire access corridor and leave briskly without any more engagements with whatever attacked them at floor 6.

"Not by hands, no" he replied "But maybe I can use some C-2 to breach the locking mechanisms, it'll just be a matter of kicking them down"

'One' nodded and reached down to his pants' pocket, pulling out several small blocks of white substance, not bigger than an average candy bar; C-2 Breaching Explosive, weaker than its older brother, C-4, but still powerful enough to blow out locks on reinforced doors. They've used it plenty of time during their raids and strike missions and this would be no exception.

He took the bars of explosives from his leader and leaned so that he could see the large elevator doors, it was just as he had suspected; each of the two doors was locked into place by two heavy mechanical locks, one at the bottom and one at the top. Taking two bars of C-2 into his hands, Kaplan planted them with pinpoint accuracy on the two locks. He thanked God for all those guarding routines he had with Vankman, the team's Demolitions expert, having undergone no Demolition training during his service in the army, Boris had toughed him everything he needed to know about how and where to plant what in order to cause whatever you want to go up in a blaze of glory.

Having finished planting the bars, he wired them all to a grey detonator using a series of yellow wires, stretching from the bars to the grey box in his hands. He looked back at his leader, 'One' replied with an approving nod.

"Fire in the-"

He was cut halfway through his announcement by a sudden wave of blue light that washed down the elevator shaft at an amazing speed, suddenly killing the flare's dim glow and drowning it in its own relatively bright blue aura that seemed to be emitted from all the walls around them. It came in an abrupt manner, without any warning and sonly enough, yellow alarm lights joined in; four of them, each located in the middle of one of the walls, spinning inside translucent plastic shells.

Both men were caught off guard, but it was 'One' who reacted first; the man whipped out the G-36C from behind his back in a lightning fast display of military training and reflexes. He aimed up and down with his gun, steely eyes searching for something that could pose as a threat. Finding none; he drew a sigh of relief and shifted his attention to Kaplan, the latter still standing with the detonator in his hands, trying to calm his breath and settle down his racing heart; this place had WAY too many things going off without warning for his taste.

"The Queen must be done rebooting" he finally said "I guess something happened to the power, these lights are from the emergency lighting system"

"Right" the leader replied "Remind me to check on that, _after_ we'll get out of here"

He spoke in a sarcastic voice, and this time, Kaplan was able to see the small grin that crept up his leader's lip. He nodded once again and locked his brown eyes on the detonator in his hands

"Let's try that again" he spoke to himself and raised both his hands, even taking a step backwards towards his leader

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The C-2 went off, not in a blazing fireball like one would expect from an explosive, but in more of a blinding display of white sparks that flew off from the two large mechanic locks that stood between the two warriors and their unit, sounding off a rather loud explosion that echoed through the elevator shaft. Both warriors could now see bits and pieces of the black locks flying past the doorway and down the shaft, colliding against random walls and emitting a loud clinking and clanging on their way down

Kaplan peered into the doorway to view his handiwork; Boris would've been proud, both the locks were completely obliterated and the only reminder of their former existence were a pair of black and brown scorch marks on the pale silver doors. He smiled with satisfaction and turned towards his leader, the older, taller man was busy with his comm. Unit and paid hardly any attention to the medic standing beside him

He shifted his body to face the large burnt metal door, and then focused all his strength into his right leg, bringing it up just like he was taught during Urban Infiltration training and then sent it forward, connecting the black sole of his combat boot with the center of the metal block and sending a massive shock through it. The door simply leaned forward, having nothing to support it, gravity and momentum did their work perfectly, allowing the door to freefall into the inside of the entrance of the floor with a powerful crashing sound of metal against floor tiles.

Kaplan stormed into the floor in a single, clean cut, aggressive move, pistol drawn. He looked down one end of the corridor that stretched in front of him; nothing, just debris and blood, papers and glass shards scattered at random throughout the floor and long smears of blood and gunk decorating the once clear glass windows and walls. He turned around on the balls of his heels and scanned the other end, nothing again; this end of the corridor seemed to stretch longer than the other, not ending in an abrupt corner like the one he scanned just a second ago, but lasting further, doorways scattered at its sides, most of them were metal doors that were pressure locked; he had to get an access code if he wanted to see what's inside them

"Clear"

Seconds after he sounded off the announcement, 'One' slipped through the blown-out elevator shaft; his raised weapon, which scanned the two directions cautiously was sonly enough lowered, sensing no danger was in their close vicinity. The team's leader examined his stopwatch; the black digits read 14:36, plenty of time. When they were locked inside the decontamination rooms, back when it all began, J.D had told him that once they reboot the Red Queen, they have fifteen minutes to hook up to a computer console and punch in the override code in order for the blast doors to reopen

"How's your shoulder?"

Kaplan's never-ending fit of concern spoke out of his throat once more, the three large circular wounds in his leader's left shoulder didn't seem to take their toll on the man, in fact, he did not seem to notice them, even though their constant gashing of blood that tarnished the larger man's uniform. 'One' turned his head towards him and looked down on his shoulder; the area turned numb a few minutes after the attack, but he plainly assumed his body was so overrun with Adrenaline that his brain wasn't able to register the pain, but even though the fight was done with a long time ago, the numbness was yet to pass. Scenarios ran through his mind; what if the creature's claws were poisoned, or covered with some sort of a disease? He remembered watching a TV program about an animal named The Komodo Dragon whose teeth were covered by a thick layer of deadly bacteria, so that even if its prey survived its attack, the affect of the bite itself would bring it down in a matter of hours, what if that was the situation going on inside his own body? What if the claws were infected by some germ, or virus that penetrated into his body?

He looked back at Kaplan; the man was examining him with the thorough eyes of an experienced field medic, trying to assess whether would his commander require additional treatment. He drove the horrific thoughts that dwelled inside his mind away and nodded

"It could use some work" he finally said.

Kaplan nodded and gestured the man to sit down on the blown elevator door. 'One' complied, taking off his vest while he was at it and unzipping his jacket as well. The medic knelt beside him and took a look at the wounds; they weren't too deep for as far as he could see, no muscle damage or major blood vessels ruptures, and yet the wounds were bleeding hard, the red liquid being soaked into the man's black heat preserving shirt.

"Did you go out with J.D and Westlake to the bar last night?"

There was something wrong with those wounds, he just knew that; something was off with his leader's blood coagulation, and he had to find a reason for it. The first and safest thing that popped to his mind was Alcohol, not too many people know about its affect on the coagulation times in the human body, it could easily be the reason for the man's extensive bleeding.

"No" he replied, ruling out the medic's theory "I headed down to the firing range with Romano and Rain for some target practice. Why?"

Kaplan took a breath

"Your blood isn't clotting properly; it's dangerous, especially with your hands"

He took a scalpel out of his vest's pocket and made a thin cut in the man's shirt, around the three wounds. He removed the blood drenched piece of clothing and then proceeded to clean the area up of the dried blood. As he cotton ball shifted across the man's open wounds, Kaplan could notice his face did not even shift for a second, it was a red flag for him; no matter how tough were his patients, throughout his entire career, they never failed to flinch when the stinging sensation of the disinfectant met with their nerves.

"You're hiding something out on me" He said, staring at the now relatively clean area with his concerned brown eyes, reaching for his medical sewing kit with his free hand

"There's something else, isn't it?"

'One' looked at him with a harsh gaze, not replying to his question while the man poked the stainless steel needle through his skin. He did not feel pain, nor the coldness of the steel before it penetrated his skin, he opened his mouth to speak, letting out a short sigh first

"It turned numb a few moments after the attack"

The medic nodded and proceeded with his work, seemingly un-phased by his leader's reply, but inside his mind, gears were churning hard, it could have meant everything from a typical reaction to fright and an over release of Adrenaline to a neurotoxin that penetrated his friend's system and was currently annihilating his nerves. He took a deep breath and went on with the treatment; even he knew he was worrying too much, and that could distract him from his work, something he would never allow to happen.

"Once we get out of here, I'm taking you to the Raccoon Hospital; I'm in no position to examine you"

He moved on to apply stitches to the second wound while 'One' shifted his eyes away from him. The latter was hoping to see the last remaining member of his team as soon as possible. He had every bit of confidence in Rain's ability to make it to the rendezvous location they had determined, but fear and worry still took their place in his mind, much like they did in any other leader's mind when he was sending his troops on a mission, after all, she did inform him that her group was attacked. He wondered if they were attacked by the same creature that he and Kaplan encountered, and if so, were they able to kill it. He knew that even after his attack, the creature was still alive, leaving a trail of red blood that led to its hiding place. He and Kaplan could have easily chased it down and lead to a second melee between them, but even as his brain was flushed with Adrenaline and Endorphins, he knew it would be a bad tactical decision that may result in additional wounds, maybe even death.

"Rain" his harsh voice spoke into the comm. Unit's microphone. His teammate's static reply was soon to come

"_Yeah?_"

"What's your location?"

(--T--)

The girl paused her advancement, bringing the entire group of three to a half. She turned her head left and right to get an indication of where she was; basically, she had no idea, she was following the directions Kaplan had supplied her with, direct instructions on how to get from the location they were in earlier to the elevator shafts.

A first, quick, glace told her she was in a laboratory of some sort; it was a large square room, walls painted in a chromatic tone as it was in all the labs and corridors of The Hive. Metallic tables, desks and large metal beds, the kind that are found in a Coroner's office were partially submerged by a shallow layer of water that reached just a little above Rain's ankle. The tables were covered by many papers decorated by crude handwriting, all drenched with water and stuck to the silvery top. Three shelves stoop next to one of the walls, all stocked full of many vials filled with liquids in different colors and levels of clarity

Rain swept quickly into the room, her feet splashing in the water as she moved quickly through the laboratory, passing between tables and blank computer screens that were placed on several work stations near the metal tables, drops of water still sliding off the dark screens. The girl wondered how did all this water reach into the room; it looked someone was trying to make the lab into a pool, partially succeeding. She chuckled inwardly at the mental image of a large band of men, dressed in nothing but swimming suits and lab coats, standing at the entrance to the room and pouring water inside, each of them holding a brightly colored gardening hose.

_Drip!_

A sudden feeling of a wet impact against her palm caught her attention; she looked up to see six eggshell shapes stuck to the ceiling, colored silver with a black line, four large holes decorating the bottom of each of them. The sprinkler system must have been activated by the Red Queen at some stage of the outbreak, but she couldn't smell any smoke or ashes, or see any sign of a fire. Why would the sprinkler systems go off if there wasn't any-

She suddenly cringed, remembering some of the rooms in the Hive were Air Tight to prevent any whatever they were researching in there from getting out. The dreadful scenario that came to her mind sent a bad taste to her mouth and a prolonged chill down her spine. She shook the feeling off, concentrating on finding any indication as to where she was, taking a few more quick steps towards the middle of the lab, scanning the silver walls which were decorated by X-Ray slides and MRI images, some of humans, and some of other creatures, Gorillas was her guess, judging by the creature's large skull and human-like bone structure as it was displayed by white outlines over the dark background of the X Ray slides

Bending down, she pulled out a colorful piece of paper which was floating across the thin layer of water around her. It was a Welcome sign of some sort, colored beautifully in red, blue and black pens, four small pieces of duct tape were plastered to each of the paper's corners. She quickly read though the smearing colors and tossed the paper back into the water

"I'm at a lab of some sort, found a sign that says Advanced Gen Research number 4, does it make any sense?"

"_Makes perfect sense_" The reply came, it was Kaplan "_There should be a door dead ahead of you, do you see it?_"

She looked ahead, it was just as Bennie said; a large, thick, safe-like door stood there, it had three large visible gears on her side, probably used to power the locking mechanism, it was one of those Air Tight rooms she thought about earlier. The wall to the right of the large door was banking inwardly and had a big and thick white frame inside it, two other white lines, thinner than the frame were the boundaries for three glass windows, used so that people who were working outside the room could see what their coworkers were doing on the inside, an eerie yellow glow came from within the room, as if it was filled with egg yoke.

"Yeah, I see it"

"_There's a keypad right next to it_" He said, right again; she could spot the black square from where she was standing

"_The code is 7-7-1-6-9_. _There'll be another door to your right with the same code. Tell me once you're through and I'll guide you to us_"

Rain turned back and motioned Matt and Alice to enter. The two complied and followed her quickly to the middle of the large laboratory, they seemed a little shocked when their feet suddenly felt the water's cold against them, neither Matt's Sneakers nor Alice's high heels could prevent water penetration like her own combat boots, and the two seemed not to enjoy it at all, Matt even swearing under his breath

"Sit tight" she told them. And turned around, letting go of her MP-5 for a second and scratching her left arm, the itching was driving her crazy, and she felt it at its worst when she idled, stood still while doing nothing.

Regaining the grip on her gun, the female commando proceeded towards the door in slow steps, her toe following her heel as she approached the large steel blockade. Her muscles tensed, a slight headache was beginning to pulse its way at the back of her head, she tried keeping the pain at check, not allowing to get in the way of her concentration.

As she was approaching, she noticed some odd scratch marks on the glass window that was beside the large door; horizontal and vertical lines that went across the central glass window and composed several shapes with a dark crisscross of lines. She paused for a second to think and turned towards the window, the ominous headache still beating with resilience. One step after another, her blue eyes focused onto the scratches, her mind clicked; those were letters, something was written on the window

_EM PLEH_

"Help me…"

She mouthed the words silently when a movement caught her eye; inside the yellow light, something moved, a mangled piece of black paper floated up the room, like a piece of black wax in a weird Lava Lamp. Painful realization struck her; the room was flooded, filled with gunk and murky water that were colored in a sickening yellow tint

Her mind suddenly called a time out; if the entire room was flooded, then how could there have been writing on the in-

**THWACK!**

"Fuck!"

She yelled and jumped back, startled, the barrel of her Sub-Machinegun pointed directly at a point in the glass window. A pale hand was planted hard against the thick glass, creating a dull noise that sent Rain out of her skin. The girl took a few breaths in to settle her heart back into place, the barrel of her gun lowering and rising with each breath she took, she looked back at Alice and Matt; the two returned a look, their eyes wide with fear at her sudden jump. Her gaze then returned to the window, where a submerged corpse seemingly looked back her

It was a woman, her skin was fairly pale, now gleaming against the window in a sick yellow tone. Her eyes were not inverted, yet seemingly empty as she gazed out the window and the girl outside. Her hair was floating in all directions, hovering and gliding above the woman's head like an evil black ghost from hell itself. Her face was slender, well shaped, looking almost lively as the yellow glow decorated it. She wore a black, short sleeved shirt, one of her arms with inside a lab coat's sleeve, the latter floating like a phantom behind her.

Rain stared at the woman for a few seconds before taking a step forward, her curiosity leading on instead of her logic. She looked at the caged abomination with careful eyes, the barrel of her MP-5 still aimed directly at her, she reached inches away from the window before the woman noticed her, hitting hard on the glass again. Rain's heart skipped a beat, but she quickly relaxed, seeing that there wasn't even a crack in the thick armored glass.

"Rain?"

Alice spoke up. She saw the girl walking to only inches away from the glass prison of the woman inside, not even moving after she hit the glass again. Her gaze drifted to Matt; the latter seemed to be hypnotized by what the female commando was doing, not noticing her observant blue eyes which tried locking into his.

"Rain, what're you doing?"

She managed to earn the girl's attention as Rain now turned her head slowly towards her and brought a finger to her lips, shushing her down and once again devoting her entire attention to the creature ahead of her. She took the same finger she held against her lips and brought it closer to the glass window. The woman responded instantly, opening her mouth and lounging onto the glass, seemingly gnawing at it with her rotten yellow teeth.

A small grin crept up the girl's lips as she moved her finger across the glass, the woman's open jaws following quickly, gnashing at random occasions and surprised to take in nothing by the murky water inside the small room, tracking her finger's every move at random speeds; sometimes speeding and sometimes moving as slowly as it could. It didn't take long before Rain got bored, her grin shifting into a form of disgust as she pulled away from the window and retook the MP-5 into both her hands, holding it just below her armpit.

"Rest in peace, bitch"

Her index squeezed hard on the trigger, making a long stream of muzzle fire and bullets to escape from the weapon's barrel under the constant rattling sound it made as one bullet after another joined the deadly flight towards the thick glass window. The glass shattered with the impact of the first bullets of the burst; long white cracks quickly racing across it and exploding in an instant, large piece of the thick glass flying towards the laboratory and in Rain's direction, giving way for a powerful tidal wave of yellow water that soon followed and swept through the laboratory's floor, elevating the water level to just a little above the soldier's combat boots, but still not getting in.

The corpse of the woman rolled out of the white frame and into the room, many bullet holes decorating her torso and head, Rain's aim was as deadly as ever, even at her condition. She peered into the room though the now blown out window; small, confound, she would be lucky if all three of them would be able to squeeze through at once, nonetheless, if she ever wanted to make it out of the Hive, that's the path she needed to take.

Matt jumped off the metal table and took Alice along with him. Their legs were up to their shins in water, a murky mixture of yellow and black that now contaminated the once clear water of the laboratory. The two looked at the water with a small ping of disgust noticeable on their faces as the yellow waste brushed against Matt's pants and Alice's exposed legs, the latter's face curling with disgust at the revolting sensation.

In his mind, the young A.U.O Sergeant had already formulated a plan that would work best for all parties involved; he would stick around for now, accompanying the two girls on their journey towards the remaining members of the security team, and only then, once they'll begin setting up for departure, that's when he would make his move and separate himself from them and go look for his sister, Lisa. He remembered them talking about a countdown of sorts when he sat with them at the decontamination chambers, all he had to do was just to find out how much time did he have once the clock started running and he'll be home free.

He followed Rain's fingers carefully while she punched in the code to open the large steel door, _7-7-1-9-6_, her fingers tapped across the black keypad. There was a loud beep while the keys shone green, the door slowly opening with the sound of pressurized air being released. Another wave of water washed the top of her boots as the door finally opened to its full width, revealing the inside of the small room; enough space for two people to stand in, an already depleted sprinkler systems seen clearly above and two chrome shelves on one of the walls.

She stepped in and typed the same code into the other door's keypad, the latter sliding open at a surprising speed that startled the warrior slightly. Her eyes quickly swept across the room; another lab, almost identical to the one they were in only a few seconds ago, only this one was much drier. Like in the previous one, blue lights shone from above, reflecting off the chrome and metal and giving every single reflecting object in the room a sort of a blue aura. The heavy stench of Halon gas stood in the air, but in complete contrast, no bodies were found

"Look" Matt said, gesturing his head towards a long smear of red blood on the floor, the smear leading towards a broken down and malfunctioning door; the thin electricity powered door was nearly ripped off its hinges by the many hands the pushed and battered against it, creating many dents in the thin metal, some deeper than others and actually nearly punching through the metal.

"Hold On"

Rain moved ahead of him, following the smear towards the busted door. She paused for a second; this could be an ambush, an attempt made by those things to end what they started. Her eyes drifted down to her arms, the itching was beginning to be replaced by a stinging burning sensation that slowly coursed through her exposed arms and up to her wrists, she figured she was going to need pain killers really soon, which stood as a better reason for her to hurry up and meet with 'One' and Kaplan.

Her two icy blue eyes poked through the broken door and peered outside; there was a small straight section ahead of the door, but it sonly ended by a T junction that split the corridor into two sections, each going in opposite direction. Her eyes looked down in search of the smear, just to give them direction as to where _not_ to go. The last thing she wanted was another showdown with those hard-cased asses that attacked their group back at Dining Hall B, at least until she figured out a way to dispatch them quickly without unloading half a magazine of 9x19 Parabellum rounds into their bodies, striking just about everywhere along their torsos, stomachs, necks, heads, everything. She simply could not spare half a magazine to each of those people.

"Kap, I'm at the second lab. Now what?"

Her voice was radiating with annoyance, the pulsing headache she had was only increasing, and the burning sensation which was currently racing and down her arms wasn't helping her too much either. She checked her weapon, not too much ammunition was left after the long shootout at Dining Hall B; her vest only contained two more full magazines and the one currently inside her weapon was only partially full, thirteen, maybe fourteen bullets left

"_You're at the home stretch, Rain. Just go through the white door in front of you and make a right at the T. You should have a visual on us in five minutes on foot_"

"Come on!" she barked at Matt and Alice. The two followed closely while she raised a powerful right kick into the door, taking it out of its misery and off its hinges, right down to the floor where it crashed hard with a loud sound. She stepped through the exit, the two civilians behind her, and began marching towards the T-Junction

"This day just keeps getting better and better…"

(---------X----------)

Wow! Shortest entry yet, even shorter than Interval 2! I don't know about you guys, but I'm disappointed. I'm sick of promising you, and myself, longer and much more interesting chapters and then failing and having to make excuses for it. So I'm gonna give this whole 'One Week Deadline' one more chance, which, surprisingly enough, would take place in TWO week from now, since I'm due to spend two weeks at my army base.

…Hope you enjoyed it anyway. G'bye.

…Please don't give up my story yet.


	11. Entry Four: Trapped

_Hello boys! I'm B-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-c-k!_" Russell, Independence Day

Honestly, I am! I worked seriously hard on this one guys, sorry for the long wait, but I pretty much sure it was worth it.

**_Tanya Adams64 AKA Sam_**- Thanks for you review, you keep living up to your reputation as my constant reviewer and I indulge on reading your reviews every single time. So thanks!

**_Chief Ratchet-_** Thanks man, I appreciate your support and released yet another FEAR themed chappie for you. I hope you like it. Also, your reviews are always colorful and reminding me of things I forgot I put down in the chapters, I like that:)

**_Rain1657 (Hope I got the number right)-_** It's always great to have another reviewer. Sorry about your school being nuts and everything, but that's usually school: NUTS! I hope you'll get to finish up reading the other chapters, they're all eager to meet your eyes.

ON I BURN!

(-----V-----)

Interval Four: Contact  
Entry Four: Trapped

Time elapsed: 00:09:22:00  
Location: Floor Eleven- Main Server Hub

"_Hey, look. He's waking up_"

"_Move away, give him room to breathe_"

Vague sounds reached his ears from the moment he was able to hear again. They sounded distorted; distant, their sources found far away from him, across an ocean of deathly silence that plagued his ears. A pair of brown eyes was opened behind the red visor of his goggles; his sight was blurry, unclear, as if he was watching what was going on around him through a pair of foggy glasses, but it was slowly improving, his eyes focused on the environment once again, distinguishing the blobby obsidian figures that stood above him into human shapes; his teammates.

He tried sitting and groaned slightly as an old pain attacked his spine, forcing him to give up on the idea rather quickly. Instead, he chose to boost himself up on his forearms, finding that he was indeed able to do that without hurting himself or inducing any more pain to his already hurt body. As he was sitting up, his eyes scanned the faces of his teammates; they seemed worried, each of them looking at him with concerned eyes, especially the young girl, Tyler; the girl seemed worried sick about him, her lips curving into an unfelt smile as she saw him getting up from his former position, while he was unconscious.

"You okay, boss?"

He recognized the voice; Spooks. The latter was standing behind the teenage girl, both his shotguns slung behind his back and a serious expression on his face; his chocolate brown eyes seemingly trying to stare through the red visor that hid his eyes. He nodded in response, not knowing what to answer; his mind encountered a blackout when he tried remembered the reason for his condition, he was baffled and quickly searched the room for a cause for his condition; an explosion's scorch marks, the smell of gas, anything, but as his eyes shifted away from the dark skinned man and onto the floor, to the object located to his right; a silvery injector, its cartridge still having traces of the neon yellow liquid, he remembered everything; he walked right into one of the Red Queen's traps and had to use Slow-Mo to avoid the attacks. He used it for too long, he passed out.

Sitting up against one of the corridor's walls, he sighed heavily; he knew now that what he had done was both reckless and stupid, he could have gotten himself killed, or worse, cause fatalities among his teammates. Had he done that while still being tested by the former Alpha Team point man, Jenkausky, he would have probably gotten himself kicked out of the team. He knew deep down that there was no room for foolish moves while in the ranks of F.E.A.R, but another part of him did not have a single spec of doubt about what he had done; he did it not to impress someone, or pass another of ATC's stupid tests. He did it to save lives.

"Sir, there's something I need to ask you"

Slinger spoke in the most honorable tone his vocal cords were able to produce. The man took a few steps towards his team's new leader, leaving Maya alone in the back row and eyeing the reflective crimson visor with his jade colored eyes. The Point man raised his eyes towards him, looking up directly into the man's green orbs. He knew what he was going to ask him, in fact, he knew each and every one of them wanted to ask him that question, he didn't owe any of them anything, he didn't have to answer if he wanted to, but inside him, he felt compelled to answer, even if he did not like it.

"Go ahead" He replied, his raspy voice filling the empty darkness of the corridor as the rest of F.E.A.R Sigma team listened closely.

The gunman ahead of him looked back at the rest of his team; most of their expressions said nothing, their emotion carefully concealed behind weeks and months of extensive training done under the guidelines of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', but one of them could not hide her interest, it was clear in her earth-brown eyes that she wanted to know all about the man in the balaclava and red visor.

"How did you…" He stopped in mid-sentence, trying to find his words, closing his eyes and opening them a few seconds afterwards, a newly formed expression on his face, having found his words, he continued

"How did you move so fast?"

His face was serious, not the usual sarcastic, cynical and distracted person he portrayed himself as. There was a certain and definite ferocity in his eyes, one that was only there when he was firing off rounds at whatever target he could aim at. This was no exception, he fired off his round, and now he was waiting to see if it met the mark.

The Point man sighed again; he knew that question would come, he saw it coming. The easy part of that dialogue was over and now it was time for the hard part; answering.

"What I'm about to tell you…" His tone dropped, making his voice sound even raspier than its usual self. He got up slowly as he spoke; supporting himself with the wall he was sitting against

"What you're about to hear, will never leave this building. You'll never talk about it to anyone, even among yourselves. Promise me this first"

Each of the soldiers ahead of him nodded silently. His cryptic introduction managed to lay down some stress on their shoulders. Tai nodded silently, her thirst for information was so great that even the man's ominous warning could not settle it.

" Auburn City" He began in a low voice "Does any of you know why the Replica Uprising began?"

"Fettel" Slinger replied simply "He was in command of the Replicas, but he went postal and sent the out on a seek and destroy mission"

"Wrong" The man replied, taking his teammate aback "Fettel didn't just unleash his men into a killing spree. He was on a mission, with specific orders and a very tight agenda"

"Orders? Whose orders?" Maya joined the conversation, eyeing the man with a questioning stare. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, mouthing the word silently, bringing back lost memories of the time he spent at the urban war-zone. Memories of a cold hearted betrayal of a father at his daughter, of great deception and of death, senseless carnage that roamed freely on every single meter of that accursed city.

"His mother's" He said silently "Alma Wade's orders"

A deathly silence descended upon the room; the four soldiers in front of him did not know what to say, each of them stared at the other with a blank expression, unsure of how to react to the information that was bombarded upon them, but it was Maya who regained her composure the fastest, questioning him once more

"His Mother?" she asked in a blunt tone, seemingly dumbfounded by his answer "What do you mean-"

"Forty one years ago, a man working in a leading office at Ameracham Technologies Corps. Harlan Wade, had a daughter, his wife dying at birth. Three, maybe four years later, he discovered his daughter had extremely powerful psychic powers, especially ones involving telepathy"

"When she was eight, Alma was impregnated by an unknown sperm donor and then underwent a long battery of chemical injections to assure her powers would transfer to her baby. Nine months later, Alma gave birth to her first boy; the child was…"

"_Where are you taking him?!_"

"_You will be a God, among men_"

"_Put her back to sleep_"

"_NOOOOO!!!!_"

The teenage mother's pain riddled howl filled his ears, carrying so much fear, sorrow and hate. It made a tear roll off his eye, he was thankful none of his teammates were able to see that, he would be so shamed if they did.

"The child was taken away from her, but did not seem to display any sort of psychic powers. Project Origin was deemed a failure and Alma was put into a chemically induced coma"

"Sorry for being an emotionless asshole" Slinger spoke "But what does that have to do with anything?"

The man took a deep breath; if the gunman could only understand what he was going through, what kind of emotions were piling up inside of his seemingly calm body. The thing which he had kept as a secret to himself for the past two years, since he discovered it, not telling about it to anyone he knew; Betters, Holiday, even Jin, the biggest, most important and personal secret of his life, was about to be told to a group of men and women which he had barely known for two hours. This caused an emotional turmoil to ravage inside him, but he had to keep it in check, he had to remain calm to complete the mission.

"Several years later, Alma was awakened again and seeded with another baby, project Origin was restarted, regardless of the woman's mental state. She gave birth to another, Paxton Fettel. Fettel did indeed display the psychic skills needed for the project, and Origin was set into motion"

"Hold on" Tyler cut him off, stepping ahead "We all know how the Fettel deal ends up, but what about the other?"

The Point Man shifted; that girl knew how to hit with pinpoint accuracy. He turned towards her directly and eyed her two earth-brown eyes, his own brown eyes focusing onto them.

"The other boy undergone a long series of chemical alterations to his body, made in attempt to wake the dormant psychic potency inside him…" He stared at the injector on the floor, revisiting old memories, but driving them away as soon as they came, some things were better left buried

"Even though it failed, he showed extreme physical abilities as a side affect from all the injections. The boy was able to strain his body and mind, reducing his reaction time while increasing his agility and speed for short bursts of time"

"I knew it was you!"

Slinger suddenly jumped ahead of the pack, he was inches away from the man seated on the floor, his eyes were burning with a searing red fire of anger. The gunman drew his two pistols in a lightning fast reaction that even surprised the Point Man. He held both pistols aimed directly at his team's leader, unaware of his actions, it was as if his brain had shut down, he was no longer in control of his body

"You…You're that… That _FREAK_, the ATC guinea pig they sent with the Alpha team! You got them all killed!"

The young soldier screamed at the top of his lungs, his face distorting with rage and hatred and his mouth let out droplets of spit that collided against the red visor as he screamed. His hands were shaking as he held the two AT-14's trained directly at the man's head, willing to blow his skull open at any given moment. The remaining three soldiers jumped into action immediately; each of them raising their weapon and aiming at tat their friend with shaking hands

"C'mon, Sling" Spooks tried "Ya'know it's not true, he didn't kill anyone, Fe-"

"SHUT UP!" The gunman barked, to him, the man, no, _creature_, ahead of him was responsible for the deaths of some of his closest friends; people he ate and slept with for months and bonded with them closer than any other person he had ever known. He had to be punished.

"Chris, come on, think about what you're doing!"

Maya screamed back at him, she was terrified, never in her life did she see the sharpshooter acting the way he was at those dreading moments; he was raging, screaming words and aiming his weapon at his own team's leader. She knew they somehow had to calm him down, because if that situation was to boil any further, it would surely explode.

"I know damn well what I'm doing" He replied, his voice dropping and dripping with venom

"This man…" He shook his right hand, gesturing towards the Point man with the barrel of his gun, reflecting the blue lighting that came down from the ceiling upon the clear black metallic barrel.

"This man is responsible for the deaths of every single man and woman on the F.E.A.R Alpha team. They were hunted down throughout Auburn and eventually found, tortured and killed, all because of HIM!"

"He's right"

He spoke silently, his raspy voice almost vanishing into the echo of the gunman's shout. His eyes shifted to the floor, not able to stare the man in the eye anymore, knowing tat he was right. Both of his hands shifted to the ground and pushed against the cold floor tiles, he got to his feet, disregarding the pain in his spine

"After the nuclear meltdown, several Delta Force operatives set up an extraction point in Auburn Memorial Hospital. Fettel had ordered his men to hunt down and kill my teammates… To provoke me to attack him"

"See?!" The young man exclaimed "He admits it!"

"Think of me what you like" He replied, his voice elevated now as the two men began circling each other like a pair of sharks

"But I did not wish for any of them to get killed. I didn't even know-"

"THEY DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"

He gave him a sharp look, one that could kill. The gunman did not have the slightest clue of what anger did he trigger inside his leader, poking at the largest, most paining wound in his body. Sigma One suddenly shifted his eyes away from the shorter man, he turned his back completely on his unit, now looking at the door leading towards their target, not even caring for the two AT-14's that were trained to the back of his head

"Think of me what you like" he said in a dark voice, a hollow one, raspy and empty of emotions.

"But don't let it distract you from the mission. We, YOU, have lives to save, and until this mission is done, you will hold whatever grudge you have against me down. After we're done here, I don't care if you kill me, but do YOUR duties first; save their lives first"

He turned around now; facing the barrels of the two black guns, staring at them coldly and without any emotion. Behind the two weapons, Slinger's face shifted; the man bit his lip, his brows furring out of rage. He raised one of the pistols higher, as if aiming for the man's eye, looking around at the other members of the team; they looked at him with petrified eyes, Tyler was as pale as chalk, her breath taken away from her as she stared at his display of madness, her mouth slightly open as she did, and a few beads of cold sweat on her face.

He suddenly felt a hand being placed on his shoulder; a slender, well tanned arm with short, dull nails and the almost undetectable scent of femininity; Maya. He looked back to see the young Israeli girl staring at him directly with her brown eyes straight into his, he could almost see his pupils reflecting off hers, making it look like there was a large field of green grass inside her eyes. She squeezed on his shoulder slightly and gave him a pleading look, one that wasn't common with her

"Please?"

Realization suddenly struck him; what the FUCK was he thinking? How could he allow himself to act the way he did? The terrified look on his own friends' faces told him everything he needed to know about his actions; they looked at him as if he was crazy, the little girl was absolutely terrified by him, even backing away into the wall as his eyes rested upon her; he had become a monster.

He lowered his guns

"Alright"

Spooks let out a sigh, the color started going back to Tai's face, she wiped a single bead of sweat from her brow; this mission was getting more and more stressing by the second: first it was those things at the hallway, then the laser traps, and now this? Was that what they faced on each and every one of their missions?

" Tyler"

Her leader's voice caught her attention; she looked up to see him, leaning against the large armored door, examining it thoroughly. She walked up to him, giving him a questioning stare

"Sir?"

"I've looked at this door more than once during the attack" He started "And even now, I can't find a way to open it; there's no keypad, no lever, not even an airlock opening"

She looked at the silvery piece of Titanium; Sigma One was right, there was no way to interact with it, no knob, no pad. Her eyes suddenly drifted back to one of the walls; there was an access panel sealed into one of them, carefully hidden behind a false patch of metal that resembled a part of the wall. She grinned with satisfaction and pulled a screwdriver out of her pants' pocket, wedging it between the false patch and the real wall and tugging hard.

"I could use a hand here!"

Spooks quickly approached her, taking her small and pale hands away from the small device and giving it a powerful thrust with both his hands. This took immediate action as a square piece of metal was sent rocketing off the wall, nearly hitting him and crashing against the opposing wall, creating a loud crashing sound of metal against metal that echoed through the hall.

There was indeed a panel inside; a small keypad with black keys, a slit in which a card was supposed to go. Above it was a small LCD screen, now shining black and blue against the deep blue lights that shone above the five man team.

A skilled set of slender fingers approached the keys and began clicking them rapidly. In seconds, the black screen shone in a bright cyan color, now displaying a spinning form of the Umbrella logo. Tyler continued tapping the keys with skilled fingers, bypassing a multitude of virtual defenses placed on the small device. She grinned as more and more systems were broken under her skilled fingertips, doing her job for the sheer fun of it, just to see how deep she could hack into high-end systems.

She gave out a satisfied sigh and broke a smile as the large door slowly turned open on its hinges, revealing the contents of the huge room; a brightly lit room, filled to no room with computer packs, serving as server units for all the information on the Hive. There wasn't much inside except the computers, not even a table, or a chair, the room was obviously not designed to occupy human, serving only as storage space for the large computer packs.

Spooks stepped ahead and peered into the room; as far as he could see, the only threat that was in there was them getting sun burns from the bright white lighting above their heads. He turned his head left and right, inspecting every angle just to be sure; nothing, the room was dead empty.

"Clear"

"Alright. Let's move"

The Point Man gave his order and the team proceeded into the room; Spooks and Maya were already past the doorway when a voice from the back of the pack made them turn around

"Uh, sir?

It was Christian; the man was standing alone, far away from the rest of them, his two pistols holstered behind his back and a new, almost hesitant look in his eyes

"I need to talk to you"

Sigma One looked at the gunman, then at the rest of the team; they each glued their eyes to him, aiming to learn what their teammate wants from him. He frowned under his mask, letting out an audible exhale so they can hear his displease.

"I don't recall telling you to stop. Proceed"

The three soldiers looked at him once more, then nodded silently, turning around and proceeding down to the room and setting up in the middle of it; Spooks and Mai aiding Tai in pulling out several computer and mechanic components from her vest and assembling them according to instructions she gave. He turned around to face the man, taking a few steps closer to him

"What is it?" he asked in a quiet voice, softer than his usual tone.

Blind Slinger shifted uncomfortably; he opened and closed his mouth several times, like a fish gasping for air, scratching the back of his head with discomfort and then shifting his weight from side to side with unease. Eventually the man stood straight and held his right arm forward, towards his leader

"I'm sorry, sir"

The man took his soldier's hand into his own and shook it firmly, looking directly into the man's jade green eyes

"You didn't have to. I know what every other unit in F.E.A.R thinks of me, you just had the balls to say it out loud"

"No, sir!" He quickly said "I, I mean, none of them, I mean, at Sigma, think about you like that"

"I dare to hope so, Slinger" he replied and turned away from him, staring into the room "Let's go"

(--T--)

"…Now, hand me the encryption disc; it's the one with the yellow-"

"I know what an encryption disc looks like, little Tai" Maya replied to her teammate and handed her a small plastic disc with a yellow line crossing it through the middle. The girl chuckled nervously and inserted the disc into its drive, making the small screen of her laptop to fuzz into life

"Right, sorry" she replied as she began typing. Her laptop was now connected to a long string of cables and devices, each of them hooked up into one of the large servers located across the room. The constant humming of all the large computer modules and the heat they produced certainly took their affect on the team as sweat began rolling of their faces and under their arms, but they were thankful that it least it was just normal sweat, not the one induced by fear and stress, like the one they had earlier.

Footsteps caught her attention; without leaving her keyboard for a second, the girl looked back to meet Slinger and the Point man, both entering the room, a slight look of relief on the gunman's face. She wondered what the reason to his expression was, and further thought about whatever words were exchanged between the two. Once again, her thirst for knowledge awoken, she just _had_ to know everything.

She finished up typing the last of the command lines to her program and sealed it shut with a single press of the 'Enter' key. Her knowledge of the Red Queen's defense matrix wasn't large, but she was learning more and more about it with every system she hacked; for every system the Queen had, there was a second system, designed only to the defend the first one in a 'Kamikaze' sort of action, causing the initial one to fail along with it, making it impossible to get past it. Having not encountered one while writing her program, she was relieved; her job was much easier without being careful as not to trip over one of those systems.

"How're we doing?" The Point Man asked. She turned towards him

"I'm done here, just waiting for your order"

He nodded, and in response, the girl simply hit another key on her laptop. The devices planted across the many servers began working, emitting a loud humming noise and even more heat into the large room. The dull noise of computer systems being activated and screens being turned on could be heard throughout the room, making the five team members take quick spinning scans across the room, their weapons at the ready. The noise slowly died down, but brought along the sound of hissing air and hydraulics

The Memory Core was opening

It was located at the end of the room, imbedded into the wall behind a metal shield that could not be opened by any mean of explosive or force. First, a small, elliptic shape of the silvery matter disappeared into thin air, showing a clear line in the plate that divided it into two halves with the form missing in the middle. Later, the two metal bars that had the semi-circular holes inside them vanished back into the rest of the shield, allowing white vapor to seep out of the small gap. Last, the entire shield was raised with a loud sound of hydraulics, lifting completely and revealing a large black, case-like object, sunk into the cold, white mist, data cords leaving its sides and entering the walls

**Memory Drive: Exposed  
Danger level: Extreme  
---  
Initiating Program: O.W.T.H  
Running… **

"Prepare for extraction" Tyler said quietly. Behind her, Maya unzipped a black Kevlar covering, revealing a silvery suitcase, to which two small tanks marked N2 were connected. She opened the suitcase, allowing some vapor, white and cold, just like the ones that blew out of the Core, to seep out

"Ready" she said, holding up the case.

Tyler got to her job, carefully disconnecting each of the data cords away from the drive, it would be a shame if one of the ports got damaged and rendered useless. Once done with all the cords, the pulled the large rectangle out of its sitting and carefully placed it inside the suitcase, where it was carefully secured by two robotic restrains which erected from the sides of the suitcase. The girl closed the suitcase shut and zipped it inside the Kevlar casing

"All wrapped up and tied with a string" She said, eliciting a chuckle from her younger teammate.

"Right" The Point Man said, trying to remove the smirk from his face "Set up and ready for-" he stopped halfway

Something was wrong

"Can you hear that?" he asked. The rest of his teammates looked at him with an odd stare

"Hear what?" Spooks asked, but was quickly shushed down by his leader. He walked up close to one of the walls and listened closely; it was there, he wasn't imagining it

"Beeping"

Hearing the word, Spooks and Slinger quickly ran up to him. The three men grabbed on to one of the wall's patches and pulled hard, tearing another false cover. The combined power of the three men's arms pulling together, sent the patch rather easily, and caused the three soldiers to fall to the ground, but it was Spooks who regained his composure the fastest and saw what was hidden inside the wall.

"Oh, shit"

There was a silver colored tube imbedded into a black patch of the wall, five smaller arms were leading into the wall from each of the devices sides. Two stripes of black and yellow warning colors were placed on the middle of the large tube and between them there was a square shaped elevation on the surface of the tube, an elevation which contained a black screen an on which were four digits, showing in a bright red color

05:34

Spooks, the team's demolition's expert looked at the bomb with his trained eye; it was just the covering of the bomb, its outer skin, made for both esthetic reasons and to conceal the insides of the explosive device, that where he needed to get. The man approached the explosive slowly, taking a pair of pliers and a small screwdriver from his pocket and sitting in front of it. He unscrewed several small metal bolts before taking the cover out, revealing the insides of the bomb. Sweat began rolling off him as he examined each of the electronics with his well trained eyes; they were each branded with the hexagonal Umbrella logo. This wasn't a terrorist act, but one of Umbrella's foolish defenses.

"What do you got?" Slinger asked him. The larger man spoke, but did not turn around, his entire attention dedicated to the explosives in front of him

"Unidentified explosive, Umbrella made, I guess. I counted at least three tripwires, and it's wired up to…eight, nine, ten multi-detonators"

"Can you disarm it?"

"Too risky" The Point Man said "Pack your bags, we're hauling ass outta here. Now"

"You don't understand, sir" Spooks replied "The bomb is wired up to multi-detonators. It means that if this one goes off, at least ten more of those would go off somewhere around here"

"What do you suggest?"

I'll stay here and neutralize it, you guys head for the elevators"

"OUT OF THE QUESTION!" Both he and Sling shouted at once, but the dark skinned man's face did not shift

"If you stay here, the blast would get you. Get to the elevators and find the commando team. I'll join you as soon as I can"

Slinger looked at the timer; the red digits read 04:59 by now. His glance shifted to his teammate

"Can you do it in five minutes?"

"I can do it in three" He lied, but neither of the two soldiers did not seem to see.

They turned around to face the two other teammates, who had already packed their equipment and set for departure. The four man group headed towards the exit door slowly, in heavy and uneasy steps that echoed along with the timer's constant beeping. As they reached the exit, Tyler sent back a worried stare towards the large man, he caught it and eyed her with his chocolate brown eyes, giving off a smile

"I'll be okay!" he cried. She smiled back and left, vanishing into the corridor.

(--T--)

He watched her round the corner and disappear for his sight; he could hear the group's footsteps as they ran across the short corridor, heading towards the elevator shafts, to safety.

His attention turned towards the bomb now; Umbrella did certainly all the way with that one, he sarcastically thought. Three fail safe systems to prevent disarming and a link to at least ten more explosive systems located throughout the Hive. His mind drifted into thoughts about the location of the charges; were they set up in the support structure of the Hive, and by detonating them, the entire structure would collapse, or maybe they were positioned in key areas throughout the research and development sections, to destroy all evidence of what was going on down there.

_Beep!  
_ _04:41_

The sound of the bomb's timer ticking away sent him back to reality. The man took his seating closer to the explosive and removed his vest; he was going to need all the maneuvering space he could get; and the heavy ammunition inside it would also cause him to sweat and perhaps would cause him to drop one of his tools or set the bomb off.

He got to work instantly, beginning to take apart the first of the trip wires; the job was not too hard, it was obviously not set up with cautious thought and he was able to get past it with ease. One down, two to go. The second provided a bit more of a challenge to him, but it was still something he could get through, Spooks held out a long orange cord from his vest and hooked it up to an exposed wire, clearing some sweat from his eyes, only one more to go. Nipping away at the electric wires and using a small blowtorch, almost pin sized, to weld rouge strains together, he breathed out a sigh of relief; the tripwires were all done.

Now it was time for the hard part.

_Beep!  
_ _03:53_

"I know, I know" he muttered, pretending the bomb was rushing him, it relieved some of his stress, he was even able to smile as he approached the first of the multi-detonators; a small, spider-shaped object painted golden yellow and black. A single wrong move would cause the detonator to wire up, and then all the explosives linked to it would go off. Clearly not something he wanted.

He approached the thing with his pin-sized blowtorch and a pair of tweezers, having pulled it out in a matter of seconds, he wasted no time and got to work on another, tugging slightly against the persistent insect-like chip, eventually having it out and tossing it away from him

_Beep!  
_ _03:13_

_Twenty seconds per device, good_, he thought, if he's lucky, he would be able to take out all the multi-detonators before the timer expires, he would assure the safety of his friends. He approached another of the arachnid-like objects and quickly dispatched it, hastily working on another and struggling against it, but ridding of it with the same efficiency he always used and then turning to another, twisting it a bit as his eyes strained to find the connection pins he had to sever, blinking hard as a droplet of sweat made its way into one of them

_Beep!  
_ _02:10_

He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt; that did the trick. He got back to work, taking apart yet another of the devices, his head filling with thoughts about the whereabouts of his teammates, hoping that they have already reached safety, but he had more pressing issues: there were still five more detonators to remove, the first of them located just above one of the blue colored explosive charges

The tweezers slowly approached one of the object's small legs and tugged, severing it and grabbing hard as to prevent it from falling onto the explosive charge. He exhaled audibly, his cheeks inflating like brown balloons as he did. One down, four to go. He went for another and pulled, causally throwing it behind him, not daring to look at the timer as it counted down in its nerve raking rate.

He trained the blowtorch on another, melting one of the connections and pulling, but the latter was seemingly charged with a powerful electric charge as his finger suddenly stung hard, forcing him to drop the tweezers down into the nook in the wall, beyond his reach

"Son of a bitch!" He swore out of desperation, just two more to go. Only two

_Beep!  
_ _00:45_

He got to work with his bare hands; grabbing another of the detonators with the tips of his fingernails and melting the connectors with the blowtorch. The structure of the small device went below his nails and cut at his skin and the torch was burning his flesh, but the demolitions expert did not flinch, gritting his teeth hard against each other and pulling on the golden-black object, removing it and throwing it away. He now turned to the last one, the final one. With that removed, he would be able to claim his friends' safety, he could do it!

_Beep!_  
_00:19_

With no time for precaution or pain, the man pushed his fingers onto the device and grabbed with all his might, pulling away at it even as the sharp edges tore at his flesh, striking blood with ease. He grabbed his arms with the other and pulled as hard as he could, practically feeling the small pins detaching one-by-one. He finally pulled it out, throwing it away and letting out a blissful breath, but as his eyes shifted to the red digits, his face darkened, the spark in his eyes went off, and his breath was literally cut off

_00:06_

He knew there was nothing he could do to save himself, but an overtaking feeling of bliss filled the man's body. He knew that he had done good, having saved his friends, having given the stranded Commando team at least a fair chance to live another day. He regretted nothing, even as tears flowed freely out of his eyes and his lip quivered, but he brought his body to rest and closed his eyes, his entire body stopping

_00:04_

_00:03_

_00:02_

_00:01_

His eyes snapped open

_00:00_

(--T--)

"Major Cain, sir. The Server Hub's explosive was just detonated"

A young technician in a white lab coat informed. Her black hair was bundled up into a tight ponytail and a pair of glasses was hanging by the bridge of her nose, reflecting the dim blue glow provided by her computer's screen. Hearing her words, the blonde German got from his seat and walked up to her. Obviously, he thought, she was much more efficient then her neighbors, she could come in handy as one of the maintenance supervisors at the Nemesis program. He approached her with a satisfied grin on his face and leaned behind her back

"Casualties?"

"One, Major"

His expression changed; this was completely unexpected. His teeth clenched as his fingers gripped onto the chair tighter, threatening to break away at the thin plastic structure. He pushed the chair away and began typing on the laptop himself, bringing forth data streams from the large room and inspecting every second with great consideration

"How can there have only been one fatality?" He asked, maybe rhetorically "The bomb was supposed to destroy the entire floor! There is no chance they made it to the elevators and went up a floor in five minutes!"

He was furious, how could his perfect defense program fail? Was it possible that he had not planned it to perfection like he thought? No, of course not. Perhaps there have been a glitch in the system, a malfunction of sorts that caused the equipment to fail, thus resulting the poor mortality rate. Yes, this has to be it!

"The one who died, Major, he disarmed the multi-detonators. Only the Server Hub went off in the explosion"

The girl explained carefully, not willing to bring the wrath of her employer onto her, but it was too late; the blonde man turned towards her and snarled with arrogance

"You have some nerve answering me" He told her, which immediately caused her to sit in silence as he leaned over the laptop and kept on typing, trying to locate a way for his operation to maintain a success. His brain clicked; from now on, he wouldn't have to do anything else to stop the two teams inside the underground maze, oh no. In fact, he could literally give them the way out by hand, it wouldn't matter. His victory was assured

"Contact Riker" he suddenly spoke, catching the attention of the girl "Tell him to assemble a UBCS team and have a chopper ready in thirty minutes. "I'm taking a field trip to Raccoon City"

(--T--)

Kaplan's head suddenly perked up; somewhere down the hall, something moved. He got up from his position, looking aside at his commander; 'One's form rested, almost lazily against one of the elevator shafts' doorframe, both his eyes half-closed, but his hands still gripping hard on his G-36C

Raising his large Desert Eagle, the Crimson Skulls' medic advanced in slow, well calculated steps, towards the source of the noise; one of the many opened doorways littered across the hallway. He focused his hearing; it almost sounded like footsteps, more than one person, for sure; four at least. He quickly reviewed the number of people who were supposed to be in Rain's group, no, they were only three, it's not possible

"Rain?"

His voice cried, but none answered, only the constant noise of feet shuffling against the floor. Kaplan tightened the grip on his pistol and took another cautious step towards the doorway, the grip on the large pistol in his hands tightening with each passing second, his finger curling around the trigger

"Rain?" He asked again "Is that you?"

Still no response. He took a step back and trained the barrel of his pistol towards the doorway, where it met a group of about six people. They looked sick; their skin was pale, some of them had wounds across their bodies, and they advanced towards him slowly. He lowered his pistol quickly and tucked it into his holster

"Hey" he asked "Who are you? Are you okay?"

None of the group's members replied, but instead they kept shuffling towards him. Kaplan's eyes were filled with worry; could they have been traumatized so deep that they have been deprived of their ability to speak?

"Don't worry" he said "Everything's gonna be okay"

He took a step towards them, and as soon as he did, a wave of stench hit him; a strong sour scent, like dried up urine. He knew the smell; Halon gas, his eyes scanned the people's clothing; each of them indeed had a thin white layer on them, brightening the color of their clothes; they've been exposed to Halon.

The leader of the pack raised her head at him, bearing a set of rotten teeth and a pale and dull expression as she lounged at him, catching him off guard. He did what he could in an attempt to stop the attack; placing his hands in front of him and taking a tumble back, his head meeting with the wall behind him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, panicking, but the woman did not reply and instead took another step towards him, snarling with hunger. He drew his gun out of panic and aimed at him, undoing the safety and loading a bullet into the chamber

"Get away! I'll shoot you!" he yelled, but the woman seemed un-phased as she took another step in his direction. His finger squeezed off a round into her leg, but she wasn't stopped, now limping towards him, the rest of the group approaching from behind her.

He panicked, pulling the trigger once more and placing a round in her chest. That blew her back, but did nothing beside that as she quickly recovered and was pushed off by the rest of the horde as they kept advancing at him

"Kaplan!!"

His head turned; at the entrance to the corridor, stood Rain and the two civilians. His teammate's MP-5 was aimed high, directly into the group, secured tightly under her arm

"Hit the deck!"

He quickly complied, falling down and flattening on the ground as the woman snarled with rage at the girl with the weapon, but still advanced at him.

A second later, Rain pulled the trigger.

(----------X----------)

Feels great to write a chapter to its full length and not stop halfway through. Man, it was good writing this one, and I could only hope to write more of its kind. I hope ya'll enjoyed it as much as I did.

Review daily, and brush frequently. Or was it the other way around…? Oh well, never mind!

Re-View!


	12. Entry Five: Death Trap

Ooooooooookay! Guess what happens now folks? You're in for a treat! Two entries a week! I decided to make up for the time I spent at the base and wrote this one today, in fact, it took me just three hours to write it, that's how deep into it I was!

Down to the replies!  
_**Tanya Adams 64**_- It's great to read your review again, I'm glad you liked the last chapter, as much as I hope you'll like this one. It's a little short, but there's a good reason for it! Trust me

_**Lunatic Pandora1-**_ Wow! Another F.E.A.R lover! Don't see too many of those on this website, I mean, just look at the F.E.A.R section over there, it's dying (Fear No Evil was originally designed to be released there, but I eventually decided to post it here). Also, SHUSH! Don't spoil the story! You know things they don't, no need to tell about them over your review

Disclaimer: Nah, don't own it.

(----------V---------)

Interval Four: Contact  
Entry Five: Death Trap

Mission Time: 4h 20m 07s  
Location: Tracking… Targets are in motion- The Hive- Floor Three

Army boots treaded hard across the silvery mash, step by step by step, quick paces that turned into a rapid dash as a group of five ran across the hard floor, their breaths hot in their mouths, eyes scanning left and right with frantic concern and worry into empty doorways and smashed chrome frames stained with red blood as the two barrels of the tactical sub-machinegun and large assault rifle bobbed up and down like the heads of two race horses streaking across the final lap at the track with the white finish line nowhere to be seen

One of them, a man with a clear cut army haircut, wearing the Crimson Skulls' unit badge on his right shoulder, extended his bandaged arm forward, directing his two subordinates; a man with black hair which was cut a bit longer than his and a worried and sweaty expression on his face, along with a female whose charcoal colored hair was tied into a loose ponytail behind her head, allowing strands of it to cover her blue eyes. His finger directed them into two separate rooms, located on opposing sides of the corridor they were in. Without word, the two broke away from the horde and into the rooms, disappearing for a short while and then showing up behind the horde, signaling a 'No' with their heads to the man ahead. He gave a short nod and sprinted ahead, skidding into a room and swearing audibly when he left it.

"Where is it? We gotta find it!"

The man with dark hair, Ben Kaplan, thought aloud, his voice elevated and cut short between breaths as he pumped his legs even faster into another room and scanned it quickly, finding nothing that mattered to him; only destroyed lab equipment, toppled over or sunk into a foul mixture of blood and water and rendered useless, much alike anything else in the damned complex. He sighed with despair and kicked one of the computer screens that was at his feet, breaking the glass tub and the complex electronics inside of it, swearing aloud, the thought of the creatures that they have faced earlier was still fresh in his mind, and as much he was trying to get rid of it, he was failing every time; they were walking corpses, dead human beings that were somehow reanimated and attacked him. If there wasn't for his teammate, he wouldn't have made it to that point.

"Kaplan, come on, man!"

Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He peered outside the doorframe to see her; Rain Ocampo, she was standing at the opening of another laboratory, about three doors down from where he was, an annoyed expression on her face as she motioned him to move. He nodded and left the room, racing across the watery corridor and into the room she was standing in. As he entered, he saw they were in another laboratory, much bigger than the one he was in; decommissioned equipment was everywhere, as it was in any other room, but the smell of blood was heavy in the room, and its crimson color was clear in the water, a symbol of the carnage that took place in there only hours ago.

"Rain, give me a hand with this!"

'One's voice made his head jerk upward; his team leader was standing on an elevated platform made inside the large room, both his hands wedged between two large machines that stood taller than him; two huge blue blocks of machinery with many small screens, buttons and keypads littered across them on seemingly random locations. Kaplan did not know what they were used for, he was not the team's computer expert, nor did he know what this laboratory was used for, but one thing was for sure; those things looked heavy, serving as a part of a large barricade composed of additional chrome tables and chairs that shone against the blue light that shone above them.

Rain nodded and quickly ran to an emergency ladder, placed just a few feet away from the barricade, she climbed up the steps nimbly and was near her leader in seconds, shoving her hands between the two large machines and pulling hard to separate them. 'One' halted for a second and took a look at his stopwatch; the black digits read 06:56 over the shining green background. He swore inwardly; they didn't have much time to reach one of the Red Queen's consoles and punch in the override code, and those two huge blocks didn't seem to go anywhere.

"Those tables; try to move them first"

"Gotcha!"

The girl moved away from the huge machines and addressed one of the large chrome tables that we pushed into the barricade, those scientists were apparently stronger than she credited them for, able to lift those tables into position. She pushed her half-fingered gloved hands and grabbed the outer rim of one of them, pulling hard with both of her aching arms as the large piece of office equipment screeched its way on the floor, fighting hard to stay in position, regardless of the female commando who was pulling hard against it. On the other side of the barricade, more screeching could be heard; Rain looked sideways and saw Kaplan, the latter also grabbing one of the tables and pulling it away. Good, now that all three of them were working on disassembling the barricade, it would be sure to give way in a hurry, she needed that to happen.

"Pull harder!!"

She yelled, seemingly at him, but the scream was actually made for her, motivating her to become stronger, fueling her muscles as her body pulled harder and harder against the metal barrier, moving it inch by inch until it was finally away, not interrupting with the movement of the two large machines anymore. Rain pushed the table down the platform, where it crashed hard on all four of its legs against the lower floor's surface and denting a bit as it landed. She quickly climbed up another table, throwing a few metal chairs that stood in her way, those hitting the walls behind her, clinking and clanging until they met with the floor below, the girl looked beyond the barricade, trying to find if what the group was looking for was indeed behind all that scrap. It was there, she could see it; a blinking blue and red light in the shape of an umbrella, it was one of those computer consoles!

"I can see it!" her voice cried with excitement "It's right there, man, we can do it!"

On the other side of the barricade, Kaplan was through with the table, moving it completely away from anywhere it could disturb them. The team's medic then proceeded into grabbing one of the machines and pulling hard on them, aiding 'One' in his effort. A lot has built up in his mind since the last attack, but he was forced to push it away and focus on the task ahead of him; they had to get those machines, whatever they were, to move. A rewarding screech suddenly reached his ears; the damn thing was finally moving! It cheered him up, motivating him to pull harder as the screeching continued and the huge blue block of computing power moved further and further, inch by agonizing inch. He heard another crashing sound from the other side, Rain must've been done with another table, now all there was left was to get those machines out of the way and they'd be home free.

The leader's bruised hands were now beginning to stretch apart, far away from each other. He gulped down the waves of pain that coursed through his palms and gritted his teeth, closing his eyes and pushing hard with both of his hands, sonly being rewarded by a screeching noise as the two huge blocks of technology began moving. But there was something else, another sense of his has been touched when the two blocks were moved apart from each other; his sense of smell.

He smelled blood.

A feral snarl sounded in front of him, gurgled and almost inhuman. He opened his eyes at the last second to see a man charging at him, his black hair matted to his head with blood that dripped all over his face, to his mouth and down his chin to his torn lab coat and white undershirt. The thing charged at him full throttle, closing the small gap between then in less then a second, moving in an erratic dash as fast as its legs could carry it. Surprised, 'One' could do nothing but to raise his hands defensively as the creature hit him full force and threw him backwards, towards the edge of the platform

He slipped.

"One!!"

Alice cried, her eyes widening in panic as she saw the two men take a dive from the ten feet tall platform towards the floor below. 'One's body made contact with the top of one of the tables they've dropped earlier, the commando team's leader grunting in pain as all the air has been knocked out of him lungs. His vision blacked out for a second as a wave of nausea attacked his head, but the man fought beyond his body's limits, forcing his body to roll sideways as both his hands grabbed the creature's shoulders and released as the man felt his momentum being carried into the abomination's body, flinging it away from him and into the ground, but the creature got up in a surprisingly fast pace and attacked again

Making the pale blonde girl his new target.

She yelped in surprise as it lounged at her, blood running cold as the bloody jaws of the creature snarled only inches away from her, washing her with a wave of rancid and foul breath. Her panic took hold as she raised both her hands in a vain attempt to block the thing's attack, her slender arms colliding against its approaching form and open jaws as it struggled to gain more ground and connect with her tender flesh. She backed away as the creature's obvious stronger form pushed her back, making her lose her foothold, she could feel her high heels slipping against the floor, her balance was faulting her, but she knew that if she would collapse, the monster above her would have a much better odd at finding its mark. Her heart started beating faster, even faster than before as adrenaline pulses kicked into her bloodstream, she could feel her body warming up, her brain was sizzling hot with information that flowed out of nowhere, her body acted by itself, it almost felt to her as if she was playing a computer game

"Shit, Alice!" Matt cried, taking a step forward and uprooting from the fear the bound him to the ground, but it soon came clear to him that she needed no help what so ever

With hands of a skilled and well trained martial artist, the blonde girl attached one of her palms to the creature's bloody chin while the other was secured tightly to the blood matted hair on the back of its head. She grunted with effort as she twisted the head in one direction and then unleashed a loud cry of triumph as her hands carried the creature's head in a hard one hundred and eighty degrees twist in the opposite direction, her hands feeling every single form on the creature's backbone as it twisted completely and broke off

_Crrrrrrrrrack!_

She released the motionless body from her grasp, allowing it to freefall to the ground and finally rest in peace. A few quick breaths escaped her two lips as she fixed her breath, staring at her handiwork with wide eyes and a pale face. Her eyes shifted down to her palms; they were pale now, shaking a bit as she strained to keep them steady, looking so innocent and exposed, vulnerable, naïve

By this point, she knew better then that

A warm hand was placed on her exposed shoulder, making her look aside from the monster. It was Matt; the young man's eyes shifted between the dead corpse on the ground and the pale girl that stood above it, fixing her breath. He realized suddenly that she was looking at him and forced a smile to his lips, his mind still sunk deeply in thoughts; Alice was nothing that he had expected, the girl was obviously well trained, both with firearms and martial arts, as she now displayed. He wished to think that he had suspected this from the start, but could not fool himself; from the second that he had helped her dress, seeing her at such a vulnerable state, he was positive that she was helpless, just another civilian caught in Umbrella's hell storm of disasters.

She put her hand on his, her gaze shifted to the man on the ground, she knew it was her handiwork, but her mind was simply unable to comprehend how she did it.

When did she learn to kill?

"Good job, Alice"

'One' spoke in his low voice, getting up from the table and groaning with pain as it shot up his back. He walked up to the ladder and climbed it again, pushing his body between the two large machines and squeezing through, his eyes checking the field ahead to see if it's clear; nothing, not a single living soul, only the foul smell of blood. He peered out the entrance and motioned the rest of the group to follow; Kaplan went in first after him, his pistol holstered and tucked away, his brown eyes scanning into the narrow passage in front of him. Next came Alice and Matt, the latter helping Alice up the final steps of the ladder as they both squeezed through. Rain brought up the rear, a suspicious look in her eyes as the barrel of her MP-5 was constantly aimed down the hall as it went further and further away from her.

As the group of five came across the end of the passage; a dead end, with only a single electric door to get through, 'One' ordered them to stop, raising an enclosed fist into the air. Kaplan knew the drill; he walked up to the access panel near the door and began working on it as his leader and Rain took positions, standing back to back in complete silence with only Kaplan's typing serving them as company

"Done!"

The door slid upwards, opening at a surprising speed, but the two members of the strike team were seemingly prepared for it. They stormed in unison, rolling off the doorway into the room, weapons drawn and ready to fire, scanning the place with their sharp eyes, not skipping a single millimeter in which one of those things could be lurking

"Clear!"

Rain called it, allowing the three outside to enter the room; it wasn't too big, even smaller then the laboratory they were in earlier, but what the room lacked in space, it made up for in equipment; computers were scattered all around the room, broken and thrashed, blood dripping from the broken pieces of glass and busted screens that lay on the floor, an electric surge sparking off a mangled piece of electronics that was still attached to the wall.

Kaplan wasted no time and addressed the Red Queen's console; it was composed of merely a keyboard and a wide screen, both firmly embedded into the wall, both destroyed beyond recognition; the screen was broken through and through, blood was dripping in small globs from the pieces of glass that still stuck to the frame and electric wires popped out of the free space. The team's medic ran his fingers across the keyboard, searching for a loose piece of plastic, the cover for the emergency port

"Bingo"

He grabbed the black piece of plastic and yanked it away, revealing a white data port, embedded into the surface of the keyboard. He unclasped his Mini-Com and connected it to the port, the small screen on his forearm fizzing to life and running numerous command lines in blue writing. Kaplan knew what he had to do, going through the command lines to find the proper place to insert the override code

"Two minutes, Kap, no pressure" 'One' told him. The shorter man nodded and sunk his head deeper into the screen

**Allocating: Sys34.rqf  
File not found  
Extracting: Sys42.rqf  
System Status: Critical  
Power Stat.: 30 Percent (Emergency)  
Auto Def.: Depleted  
Halon: Depleted  
Sprinkles: Operational  
Allocating: Systemcnsl.rqf  
File Located  
Open: Systemcnsl.rqf**

"Alright" He said, wiping a skin of sweat off his face "We're in the main console"

"Great" 'One' replied "The override code is C-H-E-S-H-I-R-E-B-I-R-K-I-N"

**RedQueen\System\Security:\   
RedQueen\System\Security:\ Lstrsrt.exe**

**----SECURITY SYSTEM----  
Status: Lockdown  
There are several file(S) missing. Protocol required  
Manual protocol enabled  
Initiating protocol: Mad Hatter  
LOCKDOWN OVERRIDE PROTOCOL ENABLED  
Confirmation Code (00:31)  
:\ cheshirebirkin**

"Done" he said and let out a sigh of relief. In front of him, on the small screen, things have taken a turn for the better; command lines were being written by themselves, new systems were awakened and old ones were being put to sleep as the supercomputer worked hard to fulfill its master's command. The medic could already taste the outside air

"Hold on" he said suddenly. His screen was blinking red, more and more command lines were being written. The man's heart sunk

Something was wrong

**ERROR: CRITICAL UNITS MISSING  
T-Virus: NOT FOUND  
MEMORY CORE: NOT FOUND  
SYSTEM THREAT: HIGH  
T-Virus Levels: HIGH  
----BIOHAZARD---**

"Oh my god…."

Kaplan's face was covered with a thick skin of sweat, his eyes wide open, his breath watery. He had no idea what was going on, he knew near nothing when it came to computers, but it was clear that it was bad

"What's going on, Kaplan?" Alice asked. The man opened his mouth to reply, not even daring to look away from the Mini-Com

"I… I don't know. The system, it's going crazy"

**Code 7 Biohazard detected  
Lockdown Protocol: Initiated  
ERROR: UNABLE TO REINITIATE LOCKDOWN**

**Thermal Cleansing: Initiated **

"Shit" the man said plainly "Shit, shit, shit!"

"What, what is it, Kap? What's going on?"

'One' spoke now, panicking at his friend's distress. He knew the man always worried too much, but his current status was of complete terror as he was typing franticly at the small keys on his forearm

"Thermal cleansing" He said, turning his leader's face into a pale white color "It started because the computer thinks the place is still infected with… Something, it's called the T-Virus"

"Jesus Christ…" Rain said quietly "They're gonna try and bury this. It's not a security measure; it's a fucking COVER UP!"

Alice's eyes darted between the mouths of the three commandos; something was wrong, she knew that, and whatever it was, Umbrella was responsible for it. She got walking and strolled around the room, the rest of the people present not even noticing her, all occupied with the happenings that took place on the small computer screen. She allowed the two words, 'Thermal Cleansing', to sink into her conscious, they sounded familiar in some way, she knew their meaning, it was standing at the end of her tongue, itching at her brain, but still not out.

She leaned against the wall for a second when it happened again; flashes, voices, images and visions, they floated up to her mind, overpowering her senses and every fiber of her existence. She struggles against them when they came at first, right after the battle of Dining Hall B, but this time, she decided to let them consume her completely, she knew they hold information from her past, maybe information that could help her, her and the others

Help them make it out

_"Dear god… Thermal Cleansing. We're all gonna die down here"_

_She looked to her left now, a soldier stood there; he was wearing black camouflage uniform, much like the members of the Crimson Skulls, but his face were also decorated by a black gas mask, its two visors shining blue against the dim light from above. Her eyes shifted down, another trooper stood there, dressed like the other; tactical gear, an AR-15 slung behind his back and a computer in front of him. The man was typing furiously on the keys of his silvery laptop, his rough and stressed breathing heard clearly through the gas mask's filter_

_"Stage Four Incineration Units; three of them"_ _the man on the laptop said "Takes 'em about an hour and a half to get primed, and then, this whole places goes Dante's Inferno"_

_"Then we don't have much time" She heard her own voice saying "Sharps, where are they located?"_

_The man on the laptop gave a few more bursts of key typing before coming up with the answer_

_"One of them is right next to the A.I Core, the other's located at Feeding Chamber One, and the last one is … Oh, god. It's aboard the Alexi!"_

_Her field of vision changed as she paced through the room, around the two frightened commandos. Eventually, she stopped, turning her head towards the two, sighing_

_"Alright" her voice said, surprising her at how commanding and serious she could sound "Razor, you take the one aboard the Alexi, Sharps, you got the A.I core, I'll take the one at the feeding chamber. We'll rendezvous back at Loading Bay B at one hour and twenty minutes. Maintain constant radio communication, I don't want any of you going M.I.A down here"_

_"Yes ma'am" the two replied, each grabbing his belongings and heading out of the room._

_She stood there alone now, staring at how empty the room was. A sigh escaped her lips before the AR-15 in her hands sounded off a loud click as a bullet entered its chamber. She left_

"Stage Four Incineration Units" she said suddenly, turning all attention in the room to her.

She had now idea what she was saying, but the words stuck to her brain, she knew they were important, she knew they meant something to the three warriors with her, that maybe, just maybe, they could use the information she had to make a way out, do something, anything

Whatever it took to get out of that hellhole

"Three, three Stage Four Units" she recited "One aboard the Alexi, one at Feeding Chamber One and another near the A.I Core"

"What?" Matt asked suddenly "What're you talking about?"

"Shh" 'One' told him, encouraging Alice to keep talking "Are you sure about this?"

She simply nodded, but that was everything commander needed to hear. He turned his back to her and went to sit by Kaplan, signaling Rain to also come, They talked for a short period of time, whispers and half sentences that neither Alice nor Matt could figure out, but by reading their body language, Alice quickly realized what were they were talking about

Her

The three warriors broke their tight gathering; Kaplan remained seated near the computer's console, Rain passed the two and went over to the exit door, leaving the room and waiting outside. Alice looked up at the towering figure that stood ahead of her

'One', the man opened his mouth and let out a simple sentence

"We need to talk"

(--T--)

Still, everything was so still; the air, the lighting, even time seemed to freeze on its tracks since the sentence sounded through his mind. His two squad mates stood still, unable to move, rooted into the ground with paralyzing fear, rigorous discipline had taught them to stand still, perfectly motionless when needed to

Especially when their commander is talking.

He did not even dare to look at his squad mates, his head and body perfectly motionless, almost disappearing into the deathly silence that reigned through the small storage room. They heard gunshots earlier, lots of them, multiple shooters, four, maybe five, armed with a variety of weapons; pistols, shotguns, SMG's and an Assault Rifle. The battle did not last for long; two-three minutes, and the shooters left, their identity remained a mystery, as well as their intentions, but one thing was of utter certainty in the mind of the walking killing machine

Those things outside, they weren't outside anymore.

The constant noise of feet shuffling, of banging against the door, it was cut short as soon as the firefight began, it did not take a tactical genius to understand the situation, and the three warriors did indeed comprehend it. They kept standing there, perfectly motionless, awaiting their commander's orders, but they did not come, just a deathly silence that even plagued the inside of their three minds

"_Soldier, what is your name?_"

It was the voice, his voice. The commander spoke into his mind, his voice hissing like a snake inside the soldier's head. His head bobbed up and down for a second, as if he has been awakened from a short slumber of sort, he was quick to reply, the same answer that he has been giving from the first time he was asked that question

"I have no name, no identity, only a purpose"

He could almost feel his commander's lips twisting into a grin as the distorted words escaped his lips and into his helmet's voice modulator. Paxton Fettel was a man of few words, his strong suit was in actions, like the one he took into the Hive, where seven of his brothers have met their fate.

"_And what is your purpose?_" the voice slithered again, lingering in his mind

"Fulfilling your orders, Sir" he replied briefly

"_I'm glad we have an understanding_"

Fettel was a brilliant military commander, the soldier knew that; single handedly he had led his men into victory, into taking over the ATC headquarters, destroying Auburn City and killing an entire team of F.E.A.R. There was no doubt about the man's brilliance in the soldier's head. But this mission, so much has gone wrong since it started; the security team, the outbreak, there were so many miscalculations and false information, there was no chance for the mission to be accomplished

" There was no doubt about the man's brilliance in the soldier's head. But this mission, so much has gone wrong since it started; the security team, the outbreak, there were so many miscalculations and false information, there was no chance for the mission to be accomplished

"_…on the contrary, soldier. The mission will be accomplished, I will have what I want, what I need. The filth the leads the corporation will PAY for what they have done to me_"

The voice spoke again, anger surging through it, he could read his troops' minds, it was a known fact, and there was no room for doubt in his ranks; that he also knew. The soldier said nothing and simply waited; soon, his commander would issue him and his men new orders, and then, they would be able to set off again, maybe with a chance to get out of the accursed laboratory complex.

"_Even though the initial objective was… denied of us, there is another way. A security operative in the complex was planning to steal a sample of the virus and sell it on the open market. It's found on the Alexi-5000 freight train. Obtain it, and get out_"

"Yes sir"

The voice of his commander left him, allowing the soldier to begin his task. With the help of his two squad mates, the three shoved the large table out of their way and burst through the door, Assault Rifles drawn, laser sights at the ready, eyes and ears listening to every peep and creak that sounded in the dimly lit hallway

They will not be surprised again

Coursing through the hallway, they treaded carefully, inspecting every single body with careful eyes before letting it pass them, not willing for one of the hostiles to hide between the corpses and attack them from behind. Their army boots trampled numerous body parts as they advanced, the eerie blue lighting shone from above casting shadows on the black G2A2's and Tactical armors, reflecting off their visors and metallic knee pads with each step they took down towards one of the elevator shafts, hoping for them to be operational

Floor Five, they had to get there.

(----------X----------)

Hey, well, this was another short one, but not because of some traumatic experience, heavens forbid, I'm just setting things up for the next interval. It should arrive soon, if everything will work as planned. I hope you enjoyed it, later!

Remember, Scotsman, REVIEW!


	13. Entry Six: Engagement

It's Sunday mornin' folks; the birds are singing, my pizza's cooking up in the oven, Metallica's version of The Ecstasy of Gold is blastin' through my headset, and I've got a big ol' grin on my lips. Ya'know why?

That's right, another entry just got off the presses, red hot and ready to be served to you on a silver platter. Are you ready for it? I sure as hell hope so!

As usual, it's time for the rite of passes, the replying of reviews, I'm growing accustomed to it, it's cool seeing a lot of them when I get back from the army base, and this two week routine is making it much easier on me, I think I'll stick to it for now.

So to _**Tanya Adams 64**_: Thanks for reviewing again, I hope this chapter will be to you liking also

_**Chief Ratchet**_- Hope you'll get to review this entry, I was missing your review in chapter Eleven, but it was great seeing you again in Chapter Twelve. Hope you'll like this chapter

_**Lunatic Pandora1- **_I was also waiting for the aforementioned event to happen, I think it's gonna happen pretty soon, depends on how next chapters flow.

Disclaimer: Me no own Resident Evil, F.E.A.R, on any related merchandise

(-----V-----)

Interval Four: Contact  
Entry Six: Engagement

Mission Time: UNKNOWN  
Location: Somewhere in Auburn City

There was fire.

Flames; yellow, orange and red, they danced across the devastated remains of the large city, still burning despite the long time that had passed. They ate their way at everything; wood, metal, concrete and flesh alike, leaving them as crumbled remains that rested motionless on the black asphalt of the main road, where twisted chassis of cars laid motionless, flames bursting out at random from broken windows and torn out doors, showing the brown and orange color of the rusty chassis in their red light. The fires, so hot and restless, shone across many little golden dots on the black road that stood between the two rows of devastated buildings that crumbled away, revealing their metallic skeletons, making it look as if the road was an access way to the sky that passed through an old and crumbling graveyard, littered with many golden stars, but a closer inspection would indicate that these were in no way stars, and this was not the sky

Those were shell casings

Numerous miniature monuments of the many firefights that took place on that accursed place, an utter massacre of both civilian and law-enforcing lives, done in a systematic and methodological manner as a part of a madman's plan for revenge. Each of the golden casings shone brightly in the fire, reflecting the same kind of hate and spite that burned inside the man's insides, the same rage that ate away at his very existence once he remembered what they have done to him, the same burning desire to make them pay.

_"They all deserved it… They all deserve to die…." _

Those streets, so dirtied with waste and destruction, were empty of all signs of life; no sound, nothing to see except the fire and wreckage that was put to waste throughout the main city streets, alongside bent down traffic lights and broken street signs that would never get to shine again; bent and broken by the fire and havoc that raged there, but even though the devastation and chaos that reigned through the streets, distinguished between all the debris and wreckage

A body

It laid there, slumped against the tiled floor of the subway entrance, lights from within the structure flickered on and off at random, giving out shorts flashes of light that shone across the human remains; the light brown and black helmet on his head was resting against the entrance's right wall, the black visor just under it was covered by a cobweb of white lines that originated from two bullet holes in the center of the black piece of protective glass, both the black Tactical Armor and the grey and black uniform on the soldier's body were riddled with bullet holes, making the outfit red with blood as it once seeped out, but has dried up into the fabric by now, adding patches of red to the color scheme. An ASP Rifle sat next to the body, its handle not far away from the soldier's gloved hand, making it look as if it was reaching for it, willing to grasp it and engage whatever target came in his way.

The staircase that lead to the subway station served as a silent witness to the battle that took place there a long time ago; shell casings were spread all across the floor, in all shapes, sizes and colors, bullets that tore their way into the walls left their marks as many holes and bruises appeared on the once flawless mosaics that appeared on the walls, but now, they were wounded by many grey holes of concrete and steel rods that stuck out of the grey matter. They led to the station, where the remains of another battle could be seen; more bodies of Replica Units, but there were in a much worse shape than their friend upstairs; torn and mangled, bloody remains were scattered all over the large hall, a long smear of blood dragging behind each severed arm, or leg, some were even cut in half at the waistline, their guns were still held close to their bodies, fingers even locked around the hard metal triggers, whatever attacked them, they fought it until the last second, but stood no chance; they seemed to have been mauled by some animal, one that is able to kill several heavily armed and well trained men

A toppled over subway car was blocking the way to one of the rails, by the looks of it, the Replicas used it to try and trap whatever killed them; the backdoor of the car was barricaded with several metal beams and the car itself was perforated with numerous bullet holes that tore through the thin metal walls and windows. A large hole was torn through the side of the car, the metal was bent outwards, shredded like paper and scattered across the station's floor in bits and pieces that could be found anywhere on the bloodied floor tiles.

Beyond the car, things looked more like the surface of the city; the rails were littered with fires that broke out at random locations and electric sparks, giving away the locations of three more Replicas that stood guard, weapons ready at hand, the fires reflecting off their wide visors and weapons as they inspected every inch of the tunnel they were positioned in, scanning it carefully, _just in case it comes back_

There was a half opened door behind the three drones, painted blue and orange with rust at some places, the handle was torn out of place and tossed onto the railings, right next to a bent metal sign that read in blue letters over a white background

SUBWAY CONTROL

The large control room was obviously modified and renovated by the Replicas as soon as they occupied it; security camera screens and subway controls were replaced by large flat screens, displaying one row after another of streaming data in green writing over the screens black background and was reflected off the visors of the Replicas' helmets. Pizza slices and beer cans made their way for high-tech wireless keyboards, on which fingers danced skillfully, adjusting themselves to the streaming lines of information that was displayed on the screens. Large, comfortable chairs were removed in favor of computer modules and smaller, metal chairs, and a usual staff of five, maybe six people was now replaced by eight highly trained Replica Units. Their unit badge; an upside-down golden triangle, locked within a two-pieced golden V over a red background, shone every once in a while when a beam of light caught the golden parts of it, showing allegiance to no country, no nation, and no army, but to one man; a single individual with so much control and power.

Fettel.

He was there, standing tall among all of his seated men, pacing aimlessly in the narrow corridor that was formed between the two lines of chairs and human bodies that rested upon them. His expression, a cool and emotionless stare, scanned each and every one of his men; the Replicas were the best, most highly trained military force in the history of the world, putting units such as the U.S Rangers and Navy SEALs to shame, and they were ready to obey each and every one of his orders with blind obedience, ready to die for him in the blink of an eye.

The madman took a few more steps forward, towards the exit door and then made an unexpected turn, changing his direction at once and facing the other end of the command room, the white lights from above shone softly across his masculine facial features, his square jaw, the defined cheek bones, his hard, ice cold blue eyes that seemed to see right through the thick brick wall.

"_I've tried so hard to forget…_"

He spoke now, his voice low and raspy, slithering off his lips, empty of emotions, cold and hard. His feet took him forward, light from above bouncing off his red and brown jacket and his cream colored pants as he paced through the narrow way, his eyes locked onto the wall ahead of him, fixating on a particular spot in the grey matter, but they weren't there, his eyes were vacant and distant, his mind adrift, still thinking about his three men, down at the Umbrella research facility, how was it called? Ah, yes…

_The Hive_

_"NO! NO!"_

_The young boy protested hard, screaming at the top of his lungs, squirming away on the cold metal slab and against the silvery shackles that held him into place, it was cold, his body shivered, stripped of his shirt and pants and left on the cold slab with only his underwear. The group of four men ahead of him seemed completely indifferent to his actions, staring at him with cold eyes and blank expressions, occasionally exchanging words between each other, talking in long words he did not understand, he hated not understanding when they were talking about him, but what he hated more was the object at the hands of one of them_

_A long metal syringe_

_"Come on, Paxton" one of the men tried, his ugly face turning into a forced smile "There'll be a tasty lollypop for you once we're done"_

_He got closer now, a needle erected from the metal body of the syringe, making the boy's face distort in panic_

_"I don't want a lollypop!" he protested once more "I want Doctor Ella!"_

_The man with the ugly face got even closer; the boy could feel the ends of his lab coat brushing against his body, sending chills up his spine. He tried squirming away from the man, shifting to the other side of the slab, away from the needle, he hated needles, he feared them so much, but they did not listen to him when he told them that, they never listened_

"Sir" one of the Replica spoke, his commander's head turned slowly towards him, his expression not shifting one bit

"We're picking up a large amount of coded transmissions going back and forth between the Umbrella H.Q and two other locations; the Raccoon City Hospital and a mobile unit, traveling towards the Spencer mansion at high speed"

The commander of the Replica forces hummed silently, to himself perhaps, thinking of the situation at hand. Many have called him a madman, but Fettel was in fact one of the most brilliant military commanders to have ever lived, able to devise and execute complex tasks with ease. He knew what those buffoons at the head of Umbrella were doing, it was almost too predictable to his liking, he saw it as a game of chess, with his opponent telling him every move he is going to make.

"Captain" he began "What're our ranks in Raccoon City?"

One of the Replicas turned towards the man, his uniform were different then all the others present, sporting a blood red uniform with no camouflage pattern what so ever, the usual black Tactical Armor, elbow and knee pads and a small black helmet that fitted perfectly onto his head, connecting to a black visor and a gas mask shaped like a pilot's oxygen mask. His badge was also different, the background being black and two golden V's under the triangle

"Two Model A Rapid Assault Units at a dormant state, waiting and ready for your commands sir"

His Captain's reply came like music to his ears; Umbrella had some of the most highly trained commando units, ready to strike against whatever was needed at a moment's notice and in complete silence, staying under the public's inspecting eye, but his flawless intelligence told him of no such units located in Raccoon City, only a ridicules amount of their U.B.C.S units, which were hardly equipped, or trained to pose a threat to his men. If he wanted to, a simple thought would be sent to those two units and Raccoon City would be at its knees within an hour, maybe two, but that was not what the man desired, his agenda was completely different

And much, much worse.

"_A war is coming; I've seen it in my dreams_"

He spoke silently, his body sliding into one of the nearby chairs as his entire body started aching from the visions. He hated them, reminding him of his horrible past, a past of nightmares untold and of horror not revealed by anyone, even his brother, the first, the one _killed_ him, even he could not understand why had he become who he was, what he had seen; all the horror, the experiments, the death.

"_Fires sweeping the earth, bodies in the streets, cities reduced to dust. So much destruction…_"

Auburn City was diminished; the Origin facility was taken out in a flash of nuclear fire when its reactors went critical and the rest of city was torn apart, rock after rock by his men while they were searching for his brother. He couldn't fool himself; the man was not a mere nuisance to his action but a real and living danger, after all, he was able to kill him once. That would not happen again. He was called evil by the mouths of many, he was aware of that; even while he was just in training, his supervising officers were indeed aware of his tendency to accomplish his missions by using methodological, and sometimes even sadistic manners, but what Umbrella were intending to unleash was ten times more vicious and heartless than he could ever be.

"They have to be stopped. One way, _or another_, they _will _be _STOPPED_"

(--T--)

They walked slowly, one cautious and unsure step after another; all three of them, as quiet as death itself except the voice of their footsteps. One of them was in the lead, the other two walking side by side; Attack Formation Delta was put into action, extreme caution, enemy presence expected with an unknown location or number. The three paced up the dark staircase, their path lit by the bright beams of light emitted from the bottoms of the weapons' barrels, casting shadows over the metal rails and cement walls as the three Replica made their way towards their next objective; Floor Five

An enclosed hand was raised into the air, commanding the two soldiers behind to stop. The leader inspected the staircase going from Floor Six to five with his torch; it was decimated, the metal ripped from the walls, large portions of the metal were missing and were nowhere to be found

"Climbing gear"

His metallic voice rang in his teammates' ears; they responded to the command and unlatched a bundle of thin black rope from their belts, pulling on several sections on it to make sure it is as firm as it should be. The leader opened a compartment located on his pant leg, pulling out an object that looked very much like a finless missile, painted in a bright silver tone, not bigger than a large pen. He proceeded into pressing hard on the bottom of the missile and pushing his fingers up; the device revealed three curved hooks that slowly erected into position, finally locking into place as he had bothered checking by pressing hard on them.

The leader tied one end of the long black rope into a hole on the device in his hands, securing it tightly and readying it in his hands. He looked up and scanned the broken staircase, trying to find a good and solid point to secure the hooks. The rails on the staircase leading to Floor seven would have to do, the structure seemed solid enough to carry his and his teammates' weights.

He swung the grappling hook in his hand, spinning it and aiming to get enough momentum for it to make its goal. One more spin did the trick, he flung it; the hook shot straight up, streaking towards its target, the black line stretching behind it, running out between the soldier's finger

_CLING!_

Metal met metal as two of the hooks wrapped themselves around the clear silver rail, colliding with a distinguishable sound of collision. The masked warrior gave the rope a couple of good pulls, making sure its hold is not a faulty one; the hook did not even budge, holding its position steady and still. Excellent

He began climbing; his gloved hands and military boots working in a perfect orchestra of muscles as his body left the platform and began moving across the thin rope. Two more hit sounds caught his ears, his teammates for sure, he looked down and saw them indeed, testing their foothold and beginning to climb their own ropes, their guns slung behind their backs as the three Harbingers of Death made their way towards the broken down door that led to Floor Five

Aligning his body with the door, the soldier calculated the distance between him and the door; as short as it looked, he wasn't able to reach over by simply letting go of the rope and setting foot on the doorstep; it was just too far away from him, but his well trained mind did not let out, and a plan was already formed

He began swinging on the rope, gathering momentum as he did, his body moving like a pendulum on the fine piece of roping, shifting back and forward. He let go, rocketing himself onto the doorway, clearing a landing on both his legs, rising to assume a battle position within seconds and sweeping the short passage ahead of him for enemies. Nothing.

"Clear"

The other two climbed in soon after, weapons drawn, ready to kill, eyes checking the room; it was a Biological Disinfection room; a short passageway between the outside world to the working area past the second door that was supposed to be ahead of them, but was torn out of place by an unknown force.

It reeked of Ammonia, the gas mainly used to disinfect the white Biohazard suits that were located inside a broken glass closet next to them, powerful UV lighting shone from above, spreading an eerie purple glow into the room and the next one

Moving into the next room, the group of three moved slowly, still moving in the triangle formation; the leader at the frontal point, his VK-12 held tightly within his gloved palms, some length of the barrel resting on his forearm, his finger locked around the trigger, his footsteps thumping against the metal floor, his breath escaping through the filters in the gas mask with every inhale and exhale, colorless eyes scanning the dimly lit hall in front of him for an enemy. Replica forces did posses a moral code of sort, but their training depicted a harsh set of engagement rules the related to every enemy, civilian or any distraction that came between them and the mission ahead:

If it moves, kill it.

A draft of cold air welcomed the three as they moved inside the room. None of the three could determine the purpose of the room; there were many tall metal pillars, sticking out like a mass of blunt spear tips from the cold metal floor, a look up revealed another set of those pillars, handing down from the ceiling, their number smaller than the one on the floor, some of them were probably hidden within the darkness the roamed the room as only three dim blue lights strained hard to spread their glow into the room, without much success.

One of them looked aside as they proceeded inside the room, a metal sign entitled 'Gymnasium' was imbedded into the wall to their right. He was confused by it; obviously, those pillars had some purpose in the training of the Hive's personnel, but he could not find it, nor think of a purpose for the set of pillars hanging from the ceiling, some of them having something that looked like a Trapeze connecting between two patches of pillars that hung from above. His mind was settled; no human could climb that high without artificial help, nor use that giant Trapeze to move from one patch of the pillars to the other, they were just too far away from each other, and the device itself was too massive for a human bodyweight to move.

His eyes shifted to the far right corner of the room, there was a set of five electric cages there, their bars lowered, an almost innocent gleam emitting from the dim light above them as it shone across the metallic form. His mind clicked with the sure sign on impending danger.

"Stay sharp"

There was no actual need to say that; Replica forces were always at their top state of alert, the slightest of noises could set off their killing instinct and bring hell to anyone who dares opposing them, but the other two responded to the command, raising their guns to chest height, safeties clicking off, laser sights armed and ready, eyes inspecting every inch in the dim light as it was pierced by the powerful light from their torches.

A dim rumble reached their ears, causing them to hold still, their guns were loaded within a second, loading handles pulled back in an orchestra of clicks as the first round in their fresh magazines slipped into its place on the slide, ready to be fired.

"What was that?"

Before any of them could reply, the massive hall they were in gave out a violent jolt, as if grabbed by a giant and thrown around. The ground rattled under the feet of the three warriors as they struggled for stability, pieces of the ceiling crumbled upon them, sending a large cloud of grey dust into the dim blue glow, and then, it stopped, just as it came.

They were about to set out when another sound reached their ears, from within the room, above them, in the great darkness between the dim blue lights

Something snapped.

"Get down!"

The leader cried and went flat, jumping flat on his stomach and chest, his friends did the same. A large bar of metal, secured by a single metallic wire, careened through the air, flying inches above their heads and crashing into the room behind them, causing the roof of the room to collapse with a dreadful sound as concrete and metal crumbled under the impact of the giant javelin of metal that collided against them.

Getting up, the one wielding the Assault Rifle inspected the damage while his friends stood guard, sweeping the surrounding area for threats that might have been created by the quake that tore through the room. He turned around to face them again, the passage could not be used again for an exit.

"Primary objective remains the capture of a T-Virus sample. Secondary objective is to locate an alternate escape route"

"Affirmative" the leader said "Move out"

(--T--)

_Prey. New prey_

_Larger prey, more dangerous prey, interesting prey_.

The malformed creature shifted its muscled body across the ceiling, the instincts in its undeveloped mind keeping it hidden in the darkness, silent as death itself as it stalked its prey. It crawled across the ceiling, its claws clicking silently against the concrete ceiling as it assumed a better position to attack.

Something snarled

Its head turned back with a mixture of rage and surprise; there were more of its kind there, it could see them without a problem, defined as white forms over the red background of its field of vision, showing the details of its environment with horrific vividness. The creatures approached slowly and growled silently, the first not responding and continuing its silent approach on the three in silence, sending a glance over its shoulder now and then to see that the others remained where they were, five blobs of white confirmed it, they remained motionless, not willing to meddle with its prey.

At least, not for now.

It reached position, right on top of the three, they were still unaware of it, its keen senses and traits of stealth made sure of that. The attack could not fail; the creature was too hungry to allow it to fail, it had to eat something, and it was clouding its sense of danger; in its previous attempt of attack, two of those animals managed to fend off its attack, and now, there were three of them, and they seemed bigger, bulkier, and stronger.

Assuming the ultimate position to attack, it could smell blood, only a small amount of it, but the smell was driving it crazy; it was so tempting, calling for it to pounce and claim its rightful belonging; food.

Its muscled tensed one last time, acquiring the momentum it needed for the attack, enough to gain enough speed, enough power for the onslaught to be unstoppable, taking all three of them by surprise and claiming the blood and flesh it craved for so much. Two rows of razor sharp teeth were bore, an animalistic roar built up at the bottom of its throat

It attacked

(--T--)

"**HOSTILES!!**"

A shadow attacked them, tearing from the ceiling and screaming towards them, roaring inhumanly, teeth flashing in the blue light, a small body was revealed, like a large dog, or maybe a small lion, its teeth bore, intentions clear

Death.

They scattered, each pulling away to a different directions, training never failing. It landed between them and leapt again, rocketing off the floor like a spring towards one of them; Echo Two, the wounded soldier. Claws met flesh, he screamed as a set of three blades dug into his exposed waist, unprotected by the Tactical armor, striking blood and muscles

He was taken down to the floor, the weight and momentum of the thing forced him onto his back, the impact digging the claws even deeper into his waist, but saving his shoulders as the creature's paws made contact with the thick metallic plating his shoulders had, firing off a display of sparks and a metallic screech. He got a good look at the monstrosity now; it was about the size of a sheep, skinned and much more bulky, small legs made out of sheer muscle and ending with sharp claws that proved efficient at cutting through flesh and a head that was missing even a single identifying character, except a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.

The thing roared now, bringing its head inches from his helmet, providing him with a much needed opportunity do start making his defense, hopefully

He reeled his head back and snapped it forward, head butting the beast directly in its open mouth, breaking teeth and creating bloody gashes as sharp corners of his helmet sliced flesh and muscle. The creature was stunned for a second, but roared soon enough, blood spewing on his helmet and visor.

Unphased, he repeated the action, head butting the creature again and again as it struggled to maintain its hold over his body, the claws digging even deeper into his side

One more did the trick, he could feel the creature's hold loosing as it started to wobble over him, that was what he needed, applying a powerful push with his hands, he shoved the creature off him; the latter regaining it composure fast enough to set up for another attack, but was blown back by a blast of buckshot that connected with its face, spilling blood and a screech of pain as it turned around and made haste into the darkness.

"Are you alright?"

He asked, pumping another round into his shotgun. Behind him, Echo Three was helping his wounded squad mate up to his feet, the latter motioning him to let go as soon as he got up, stabling all by himself and picking his discarded weapon from the floor

"No vital hits, slight internal bleeding, but severe blood loss is expected"

Echo Two replied, slipping both his hands beneath his armor and shirt, one of them wielding a white bandage. He fumbled with it for several seconds, a grunt of pain escaping his lips as he gave the bandage one hard tug to make sure it's tight. It wasn't much, but it would have to do until the mission was over.

"The hostile creature may pose a risk to the mission" Echo One said, taking his role as commander "We will dispatch it before proceeding"

His teammates nodded, grouping once more into a tight triangle formation and heading down the hall, ears and eyes at their best alert stage, weapons red hot with anticipation, but still, no sweat, no emotion, just three killing machines on their path to a successful mission.

"Fan out"

The leader ordered, splitting the group at a junction created by the pillars, each taking a path and proceeding on his own. They knew splitting up would make them an easier target for the creature, in fact, they were counting on it.

(--T--)

He took the left, his VK-12 held tightly, eyes scanning whatever light he could receive from his weapon's torch, shining a powerful and concentrated beam of light into the blue darkness ahead, piercing it and giving him a much needed field of vision. He had seen the creature, and was able to assume how fast it was, enough to take a Replica by surprise, the thought intimidated him, pumping Adrenaline through his veins and sharpening his senses, he would not be caught by surprise. He would not allow it.

A shadow flew behind him, he could hear it scurrying on the floor and turned at lightning speed, his torch shining through the darkness, but not catching the phantom the flew past him. His muscles tensed; he could be falling into an ambush, a frightening thought, given the killing potential of that thing, but there was nothing there now, he turned back and continued on his path, hoping his instincts would prove him wrong.

It happened again; claws scrambled across the floor, behind him. He snapped around at lightning speed, able to catch a glance of a red leg, vanishing behind a large pillar, he brought the shotgun to his waist and ran towards the pillar, rounding it quickly and shouldering his shotgun, keeping the iron sight trained at…

Nothing.

"Shit"

He swore now, blood pumped through his veins quickly, his heart beating a bit faster, Adrenaline flowing like water inside his system, fueling it, but also building up another emotion, one that he had never felt before

Fear

He was afraid; afraid to be ambushed by that monster, afraid that he would not be able to stop it, afraid that it would disrupt the order of the mission

Afraid to die.

Those emotions were endangering the mission, he knew it, but he could not suppress them, not trained to control things like emotions, or feeling, he never had those, they were always buffed out by the psychic link to Fettel. But now, as distance and detachment grew between the squad and their leader, he was beginning to feel, and was not to his liking.

It came again, the scattering noise, like clicks on the floor, right behind him. He swooped around, shotgun aimed at air once more, but he would not settle, raising his shotgun up, scanning even the ceiling, but finding nothing. He was beginning to think the creature was not only ambushing him, it was also toying with him, like a cat

_Playing with its food._

He panicked at the thought, memories of the late mission in Auburn City flooding his mind; he heard communications and distress messages going back and forth between pockets of forces all around the city, they were being hunted down by some ghostly creatures, things that could cut through flesh and armor alike, and proved very hard to kill. He did not want to end like them, like the many slain Replica across Auburn City. If he was to die, it would be because he failed to fulfill his commander's desire and accomplish the mission, not because of some foolish creature; a monster or not, he was going to kill it.

Calm, regulated breaths escaped his lips now, he paced slowly in between the pillars, intentionally pinning himself as an attractive target, moving oh so slowly, seemingly unaware of the environment. He could hear the scattering noise again, but ignored it, continuing down in his slow footsteps, training his breath to a slow and steady pace, the barrel of the shotgun resting in his palm and on his forearm. Again the noise came, even louder, but he timed it; the creature took about fifteen second between each of its dashes, he began counting slowly, as if a grenade was placed behind him, waiting for the explosion

9

10

11…

His breath did not elevate, not willing to alert the stalking creature that the tables have in fact been turned; the hunter had become the hunted, and it was not aware of it. Seconds passed, the mental image of number going up in his mind

13…

14…

Turning around at lightning speed, the light from his torch connected with the creature; it skidded on the floor, muscles rippled across its skinless body as it stoop still, bearing teeth at the man with the shotgun ahead of it

He kept his barrel trained on the abomination, not shifting even as he breathed, it was horrible; the skinless muscled shone under the torch's light, seemingly made out of bright reflective plastic. It snarled at him, extending a long and unearthly tongue, like a chameleon's, it stretched to the size of the monster's body. His eyes narrowed, finger locking around the trigger, pulling on it slightly

"Die motherfucker"

Something roared, above him. His eyes widened with fear and realization, barrel rising upwards, torch shining on the mass of flesh, teeth and claws that came down on him, a loose finger pulled the trigger, and buckshot flew, going below the monster

"**TARGET SPOTTED!!**"

(--T--)

She was resting, peacefully, her body not able to endure the constant blows laid on it for so long; the nausea and fatigue took their hold on her, filling her with weakness and tiring pains that raced all across her. Everything hurt, from her toe to the end of her hair, pains that were hard to keep at bay through effort, those few seconds of rest came as a blessing from above

Rain could feel her eyes closing slowly, her body willing to shut down, longing so hard for a well deserved rest. Her head rested against the cold metal wall, her eyes half-closed, her lips barely opened enough to allow air to pass, hands barely gripping the MP-5, which was now slung casually in front of her body, dangling on its black sling. A sigh of pain escaped her lips which were afterwards bitten by a set of pearly whites, she closed her eyes completely and drifted off to sleep, her body sliding slowly on the metal wall.

In the room past her, four people stood; three men, two of them wearing assault gear and uniform, the other was in civilian clothing and a girl with blonde hair, her blue eyes opened with curiosity as the one in front of her, one of the two men wearing the assault gear, spoke

"Like we told you and Matt earlier, a Nerve Agent was released into the mansion in order to detain all intruders"

'One's blue eyes pierced her own, penetrating deep into her soul, examining her and testing her time after time, it was as if he was trying to prove something, and was now examining her to see if it is correct

"But, I wasn't an intruder. Matt told me he found me at the bathtub" she protested

"Exactly" The team's leader replied "Which means you're a random resident in the mansion, or so it would seem"

She tilted her head

"What do you mean, 'so it would seem'?"

'One' faced away from her and onto the computer console, the man stared into blank and heaved a sigh; classified intelligence such as this should not be shared with civilians, even if there was a strong doubt about them being just civilians.

"Except for its use as a decoy for the Hive, and thus housing a support staff, it was also rumored that two Black Ops agents were also living in the mansion; one, responsible for exterior covert operations and the other was the head of security"

"Okay…" Alice replied quietly, gulping the man's words "What're you trying to say?"

He closed his eyes and allowed a sigh to escape his lips, his back still turned to her

"Did you notice a certain pattern in the Hive, Alice? Something in common to all the procedures and protocols that we've faced until now?"

She stood silent for a moment, _what the hell was he talking about?_ Her mind pounded with thought, trying to remember all those procedures and protocols they've encountered, crossing between them, trying to find something to group all those things, aside from their ultimate purpose of eventually getting her and all who were with her killed. And then, it came to her, striking her mind like a powerful bolt of thunder, sent from above

"You… You're kidding, right?" she asked him, her face decorated by a crooked half-smile

"There's no way I could be the head of security of this place!"

He turned towards her

"Why not? I've heard that you possess a fine hand in controlling both firearms and acrobatics"

"It was a fluke!" she protested " I.. There's no way I could be-"

"Your memory should've started coming back by now" he cut her off "Aren't you seeing visions? Flashes of the past? Voices maybe?"

His barrage of questions stopped her dead in her tracks; 'One' was right about everything he had said, she was indeed having visions of the past and hearing ghostly voices speak to her. Could it be true? Was she the head of security at the Hive?

"Visions, yeah" she replied "I keep seeing places I've never been to, people I don't know, things I… I just don't remember doing"

"You've been to those places, you knew those people" Matt interjected "You just forgot about it"

"I… It just seems so stupid"

She shook her head no, there was just too much information bombarded onto her brain at once; two minutes ago, she was Alice, typical civilian with a not so typical memory problem and now, she's been turned to some super commando girl, the 'head of security' at that accursed hellhole. It was not to her liking, not even one bit.

What's worse was, she was beginning to believe it.

"Alright" she said suddenly, accepting the fact "Let's assume for a second that you're right, and that I am the head of security. What difference does it make?"

"For now, nothing" 'One' replied, grinning slightly "But as time will pass, more and more of your memory would be revealed, maybe some of it could help us. After all, you did know the position of the three bombs"

Nodding silently, she sunk into thoughts as she reviewed the flashback once more, whatever bits and pieces of it that she could remember; the darkened room, the other two Commando warriors, they're desperate plan of survival

But nothing more

"That's what I'm worried about" she replied "I've been told about the bombs from a Commando warrior. In my vision, we were about to set off to shut all three of them down

Matt nodded and gave a questioning face "So what's the problem?"

She eyed him directly, her face dead serious

"My problem is that it's most likely the second time a thing like this happens here, and the other one is…"

"I don't remember if any of them made it out"

He was taken aback by her comment; happened before? Could it be that Umbrella were so careless as to allow two break-ins to take place at the Hive, their most secured and priced possession? And what about survivors of the first incident; could it be that only Alice lived through? That the horrors Umbrella were brewing up inside the underground tomb were enough to strike down an entire team of Commando warriors?

Driving theses thoughts away, the young ecological defender turned to face the Commando Team's leader, willing to learn more about his plan

"What's our next move?" He asked, earning himself a raised eyebrow from 'One's behalf.

"We proceed down with the elevators to the Queen's chamber, to the mainframe" he began "We're gonna need the old archived schematics of the Hive to figure out two of the locations Alice gave us, plus, we're going to have to find a way to disarm the weapons, a way which I'm sure is written somewhere inside the mainframe"

He gave the people surrounding him a hard look; they each seemed combat ready, each waiting for his order to jump into action and save the day. He grinned with satisfaction

"Move out!"

(--T--)

A hand brushed against her shoulder, warm and inviting, moving some of the stands of her black hair that rested there. She snapped awake from her nightmare in an instant; her own hands already reaching up to grab the intruder's and ready to greet it into a world of broken bones and pain, but she relaxed as soon as her eyes made contact with the hand's owner; his earth brown eyes and fearful smile always had a way of calming her down, she stopped her motion, giving him a short, yet meaningful stare

Kaplan

"Sleep well?"

He asked, chuckling a little, she gave him an annoyed look

"Not without my favorite Teddie, Kap, you know that"

He nodded thoughtfully and then directed her attention towards the end of the platform, where Matt was helping Alice with her first steps down the ladder. Rain gave an understanding nod, regretting it only seconds later as a wave of sudden nausea took hold of her. Resisting the will to allow her lunch to reach Escape Velocity, she closed her eyes and shot them open a couple of seconds later, staring right into the Medic's worried eyes

"Nausea again?"

Kaplan had a tendency to always be right when it came to analyzing the team's medical condition by only looking at him, sometimes earning him the nickname 'Eye-Doctor' amongst the newer member of team, Rain took pride at inventing that nickname.

"Yeah" she simply replied "What's our heading?"

"The Red Queen's Chamber" he could not believe those words came out of his mouth, the last thing he wanted to do in his entire lifetime was to go back in there.

"We need access to the mainframe" he continued "Come on"

She nodded slightly, focusing on the sound of his voice as a mean to fight off pains that attacked parts of her body at random, popping a random song to her head, something by Lynyrd Skynyrd, she thought, but did not have time to think about it, as only seconds later, Kaplan was helping her climb down the ladder, which she did quite rapidly on her own, giving the circumstances she was under.

Making contact of her army boots against the floor, Rain quickly turned around followed in the footsteps of her commander and the two civilians, Kaplan bringing up the rear soon enough as the group proceeded down a reversed version of the path they took, now heading towards the elevators.

Silence surrounded the group of fighters as they made their way, each deep in his or hers thoughts, trying to make a way through the thick pea soup that dwelled so easily on one's mind, clouding judgment and ration with thick storm clouds of fear and unawareness. There wasn't any panic among them, each of them knew that when united, they have far more that the sufficient firepower to take out another group of those things, but it was the fear of the unknown that got sweat running down their necks, the fear of what's awaiting them in the Queen's Chamber, a fear of processes that were going inside one's body, without the person's ability to control them, the fear of things you've done in the past, and maybe not wish to remember again and the biggest fear of them all; the fear of loss, the fear of failing your team, the fear of seeing them dying, and not being able to help them

They halted just a short distance away from the elevators by 'One's command, his enclosed fist raised high into the air, and then turning into a gesture, his finger pointing towards one of the elevator doors, more specifically, the electric sign above it, indicating the elevator's status

It was blinking with an arrow pointing upwards. Someone, or _something_ was going up

"Those things can use elevators now?" Kaplan protested. 'One' tightened the bandaged on his left palm and regained his grip on the G-36C

"Don't know" he replied shortly "Stay sharp"

Reluctant, Rain regained the grip on her MP-5, bringing it to shoulder height; the nausea and dizziness that plagued her head and stomach were in no way of help to her aim, she did not wish to engage combat while not being in her top shape, but if the circumstances were calling for it…

"Let the fuckers come" she hissed

_Ping!_

The elevator came to a halt, its doors opening slowly, as if wishing to build up the suspense even further, revealing its contents to the awaiting eyes of the team

It was time to act.

In a moment's notice, guns were drawn, barrels were held up, weapons shouldered, safeties clicked off and hammers were pulled back as two groups of barrels in different sized pointed at one another, laser designators throwing on red dots that showed clearly on the black uniforms and Tactical armors, shaking up and down by a little as both groups trained their weapons into a killing stance.

"Who, the _fuck_, are you?" Matt asked. One of the opposing group's members lowered his weapon stepped forward, his facial features covered by a cloth balaclava, the rest of his teammates not standing down, their weapons still trained on the opposing team

"First Encounter Assault and Recon, team Sigma" he said, his voice raspy and silenced by the cloth mask

"And you're… The 'Crimson Skulls', right?"

Rain nodded without a word, the barrel of her MP-5 tracking the man's every movement

"Well, congratu-fucking-lations" said another of his group, lowering and holstering his two pistols and taking a few steps forward, two red marks of fresh tears under his jade green eyes

"We've been sent to get you out of this hellhole"

Both groups lowered their weapons now, each man or woman examining his or hers opposition thoroughly, not willing to make a mistake when it came to identifying their true intentions

"That great" Rain said sarcastically, going forward out of her group and leaning against the frame of one of the elevator doors, still inspecting the team of four with her blue eyes

"That's just _great_"

(----------X----------)

I gotta level with you guys. I had a BLAST writing this! I took my time on certain parts, but got it done with, and I can only hope that you like the outcome. As you can probably guess, Interval Four has come to an end, and we'll be welcoming Interval Five in my next release. I hope you enjoyed it, and assure you that it's only going to get better and better from now on…

Remember to review. You know I love it.

Peace!


	14. Interval Five: Different Paths

Hola amigos! I bring to you yet another installment in the FEAR No Evil series. This is between the last two or three intervals, you have been noted.

Now for the reviews!

_**Tanya Adams 64**_: you can sure count on me to keep on pumping these babies out to your screen as long as you keep reviewing. You know how I love it

_**Lunatic Pandora1**_: It'll be kinda weird if the Replicas and the others played along nicely, seeing as they're sworn enemies and everything. I don't think I'll play with those kind of things, but it was a nice concept!

_**Chief Ratchet**_: Hey! You reviewed again! Thank you for that. I hope you'll like this chapter as much as you did the older one.

Have fun reading it!

Disclaimer: HAHA! Me? Owning F.E.A.R or RE? Yeah, right, what a hoot!

(-----V-----)

Interval Five: Different Paths

Thermal Units Status: Priming. Time Remaining: 83 Minutes  
Location: Floor Three, Main Elevator Hall.

It was quiet now. The two groups of fighters did nothing but to eye each other, inspecting, examining with cautious eyes, barrels still pointing with a direct intention of killing. Nobody dared moving, or breathing, the tension was so thick it could be felt, touched, it made the air taste stale and so heavy that it could be cut with a knife and left to bleed on the floor

Someone shifted in the Crimson's team; Alice. She broke away from the group, like Rain, and cleared the distance between the two groups, walking up to the opposing team's leader and extending a pale hand towards him

"Alice, Alice Parks" the words rolled off her lips so naturally, as if she never even forgot them.

His gloved hand reached hers and grabbed it firmly, the feeling of the fireproof fabric lining of the glove was soft to touch, and she enjoyed the feeling. He shook her hand briskly and broke off, not saying anything, but the message was clear to both him, and the team of Umbrella Commandos: They were okay.

Both groups stood down now; weapons lowering on either side, faces losing their harsh expressions, softening up, one of them even smiled a somewhat welcoming smile, it was pleasant for Alice to see a genuine smile and not one created out of stress, or fear.

"I still don't trust them" Rain said simply and crossed her arms; the action seemed to have taken a lot out of her.

"For all I know, Umbrella could've sent them just to finish us off"

She reached a seated position now, still leaning against the elevator's doorway, a dull look in her eyes, which seemed sunk by now, the spark gone from them. Her hands reached to the MP-5 in her lap and trained it faintly towards the other group, an action which seemed to take up a vast majority of her strength and effort, an action which also caused the opposing team to draw their weapons swiftly, aiming at the girl in an instant

"Ocampo, stand down"

It was 'One', his voice harsh and commanding as ever. He knew the situation at hand was highly explosive at best, and that those people could have been, as Rain pointed out, sent to exterminate them, but his tired and aching body wished to believe the man with the balaclava, longing for help and assistance, and a way out and away from where they were.

The girl complied, lowering her weapon and returning it to her lap, also allowing her head to freefall onto her chest, she breathed hard, her eyes seemed to close by themselves, she longed for sleep, for rest, her body demanded it.

"I'd like some explanations from you though" he continued, addressing the man in front of him

"The unit you say you're in, First Encounter Assault and Recon, I don't know it. Do you mind introducing yourselves?"

"Of course" he replied quickly, his voice raspy; it left its mark on the commander

"We're FEAR, a top secret unit created by the government to rapidly encounter and engage paranormal activities. The Umbrella Corp turned to us a few hours ago with a mission, one to take place down here, in the Hive"

The Crimsons were all ears and eyes as he spoke; A top secret unit? Paranormal activity? Could it be that Umbrella had sent them on a mission to rescue them?

"What was the nature of your mission?" one of the commandos asked, positioned behind the group's leader, a hopeful and somewhat worried look decorating his face. The Point Man identified him as Ben Kaplan, the team's medic.

"I'd like to lie and say this is a rescue mission, but it isn't. Umbrella sent us down here to extract the computer's memory core and leave, their regard to you was as a 'secondary objective, if any'."

His grim words fell on the Umbrella strike team like a rain of acid, killing their morals in an instant. They exchanged glanced between each other; Secondary Objectives? They were the Crimson Skulls for God's sake! Umbrella's leading attack force since it was created. What the fuck were they thinking? How could they have done that to them?!

Rain's throat emitted a long and quiet chuckle, one of desperation and misery. She knew those Corporate shitheads didn't give a crap when it came to the lives of the U.B.C.S and SF squads, but this was just ridicules, it was beyond her understanding of human nature; she knew how evil or cruel can humans be, she undergone torture sessions that lasted forever, but they did not compare to the heartlessness of the Corporate heads, a thing she did not expect.

"You shouldn't have come down here"

She spoke silently; the words were hard on her lips, as icy cold as the blue color in her eyes as small tears began making their way down her cheeks

"You'll just… You'll just die along with us… None of us is coming out"

Her head shook left and right as she spoke, a desperate look in her eyes, a tired one, one of a warrior who's given up, one that was tired of fighting, of a body longing for rest. Rain Ocampo wasn't one to give up easily, her two teammates knew that, they read her personal file; A daughter to a single mother who died when she was ten, forcing her to move in with her abusive and drunk father, living on the streets of Detroit, fighting for every bite of food, the usual sob story you hear every now and then on the news, but there was nothing usual about Rain. She had a fighter's spirit inside of her, and an aspiration to perfection, at no matter what she did; she had to run the fastest, dive the longest, hit the hardest, anything

This was just… Unlike her.

"No"

She felt warm fingers under her chin, raising her head up, two soft thumbs wiped the tears away from her cheeks, and a pair of blue eyes met hers. She recognized the voice and the face within a second; Alice, of course it would be her, who else could it be? Both 'One' and Kaplan knew to keep their emotional distance away from her, but not Alice, the girl just had to stick her nose into anything she could. By now, she would have usually slapped her away, or hissed a curse in her direction, but not this time, she did nothing but to stare into the beautiful girl's eyes with anticipation, saying nothing.

"We're getting out of here, all of us"

It reached her ears again; that warm, trusting voice. Earlier that day, several hours ago even, the girl's voice annoyed her to no end with her endless questions and complaints, but now, all she wanted was to hear more of it, as much as she could, something has changed about the Blonde girl.

"I…" she whispered "I just want to sleep. I'm so tired"

"I know you are" Alice replied "But try to hold on, just a few more hours, Rain. I know you can do it"

She shook her head forward and backward "I'll try"

It was only now that she noticed how close her face was to Alice's, the girl looked beautiful; her face looked so perfect, each feature of it placed perfectly like a complex masterpiece, made by the finest artist. Every wave of her breath hit Rain's face, washing it with soothing warmth; she saw her lips curling into a smile

"Thank you"

Behind them, in the background, the two teams merged into one, no longer being the two distant groups, but a united clutter of uniforms, weapons and moving lips, exchanging words with interest. 'One' and Kaplan got to know the members of the FEAR team rather quickly; their leader did not identify by name, but as his profession as Point Man, something the two commandos found strange, and rather suspicious, but decided to ignore. Their technical specialist, Tyler, or Tai, brought questioning stares to their eyes, she was less then seventeen, and already taking place in a deep cover mission, nevertheless, her addition was welcomed by Kaplan as now there was someone among them who actually knew how to handle computers and hardware systems instead of his guessing system. Another girl, Maya, was the team's leading gunner, carrying a large Tavor Assault Rifle on her shoulder and last was Christian, the green eyed gunman, Kaplan seemed to be fond of his selection of firearms.

"It looks like she's been through a lot" Maya said quietly, referring to the black haired girl whose head was now buried in the other girl's shoulder. 'One' nodded

"She has" he replied "A large portion of our team was…" He strained for a second, trying to find the proper word to suit their status, remembering what he had heard over the communications channel; their screams of terror and agony, having seen what they have confronted, he shuddered with fear at the thought

"…Ambushed, so to say, by the Red Queen's defense grid. They were all killed"

The members of Sigma team knew what he was talking about; those laser beams that attacked them on their way to the server hub. The Point Man shuddered; he almost lost his life when those things attacked, surely ordinary men and women, as well trained as they could be, would provide no match to such a brutal onslaught.

"How many?" he asked. 'One' closed his eyes, biting his lip

"Five" Kaplan spoke up, turning all attention to him "One of them was very close to her, we were all close, but… she really opened up to him"

Kaplan shook his head sideways, this was all too much for him, too much for anyone for that matter. All this death was in vain, he knew it now; Umbrella did not care for his life, or 'One's life, or Rain's, or J.D's, all they cared for was their research and development, of whatever they were concocting there, deep underground, where hell reigned.

"Tell me about it"

A rough voice made him look to his left; Christian bit his lip and sent a powerful punch to the cold steel floor. They were on their way up when they felt the rattle, the powerful shockwave of an explosion tore through the structure and the elevator shaft, shaking the small tin can left and right with a powerful jolt. At that moment, everything turned black, he knew what happened, but it was too much for him to digest. After Auburn City, he swore never to lose another teammate, no matter the circumstances, at that very second, he knew his oath was broken.

"They had the server hub rigged with enough explosives to blow a fucking country, our demolitions expert sacrificed himself in order to save us…" He wiped away a stray tear and continued

"We've reviewed the security blueprints sixteen times, there wasn't even a hint of that system. It was trap, set to kill us all"

'One' nodded reluctantly; he knew that like in every corporation, Umbrella had its share of corruption, but he could never imagine it would reach the levels that unfolded in front of him, let alone cost in so much lives. He hissed out a cuss between clenched teeth and lips tight with rage, but regained his composure soon enough, regulating his voice one more, trying to sound as calm as possible

"As cold hearted as it may sound, we can't dwell in the past"

He spoke in a calm tone, but rage surged under his skin; the man did not wish for rescue now, nor did he want a break of sorts

He wanted revenge

"You and I" he addressed the Point Man "We have a responsibility for our troops; we're responsible for getting them in and out of every mission as safely and efficiently as possible, with as least casualties as possible"

A sigh escaped his lips, '_with as least casualties as possible_', had it not been that tragic, that sentence would have been funny; more than half of his team was annihilated, he was struck with a crippling injury, and so was his leading assault trooper; 'One' couldn't even guess what was Rain going through, all he knew that it was taking a serious toll on her

Sigma One nodded without thought; he knew about James Shade's history and combat experience, nearly every man and woman in the U.S Special Forces knew. 'One' was a first rank commander, from top to bottom, a strict army man living and existing by the rules of the book, pulling strike teams which were under his command through near-impossible missions and some that seemed impossible by all measures, it was no wonder Umbrella wanted someone like him to lead their top strike unit

"It's true that I haven't followed these rules throughout this mission…" his voice was harder now, low and raspy as emotions ran through his body, namely grief and sorrow "And I expect to be court-martialed by either Umbrella or you" he spoke in Kaplan's direction now, but the man did not know how to reply, deciding to stay still

"But there are issues much more pressing than that" his voice elevated suddenly, back to its normal tone "We have about eighty minutes to find and neutralize three Level Four Inclinatory Units located across the Hive"

"WHAT?!"

Sling and Maya cried out in unison, their eyes widening with terror. Tyler looked at the two with a frightened expression on her face, she wasn't familiar with the weapon system the man mentioned, but by the looks of her teammates, it was bad, very bad; it scared her. The Point Man, however, did not panic what so ever, but instead proceeded to ask another question

"Do you have their Twenties?"

'One' nodded and replied "We have their estimated locations; the A.I Core, Feeding Chamber One and the Alexi"

The Point man rubbed his chin; at least the locations are known, and so is the weapon type. Normally, he would say that given the odds at hand, the two teams should have no problem reaching their objectives within half an hour, an hour at maximum, and neutralize the devices

But he knew better than that.

Umbrella had set up the Hive like a roach motel; you can get in, but cannot get out, they were already familiar with two of the traps the corporation had set inside the huge laboratory complex; both the Laser beams and the explosives, both were set into motion with no warning; there wasn't a tripwire, nor one of those red beams you see in the movies. The attack just came, out of nowhere.

"We should make sure those locations are true" he said "If you got one of them wrong, the consequences could be fatal"

"I know that" 'One' replied "We were just about to head down towards the Red Queen's chamber to extract that information"

The man in the balaclava nodded and got up, checking the loading chamber of his RPL Sub-machinegun; a single silvery bullet awaited his inspecting eyes, longing for freedom and escape from its bindings, longing to explode out of the barrel, screaming its way towards the unfortunate target which would happen to be in his line of fire. Alive or dead alike, it didn't matter.

"I'm going down there" he said "Alone"

His team rose up in resentment, hands waved and words were spoken out, telling him withdraw his statement, to take one of them with him, or to never go down there at all. All those sounds reached his ears, there was no doubt about that, but the man ignored their cries and waves, shushing them by raising his palm into the air and bringing their ramble to a halt

"Keep something in mind" he spoke harshly "Among this team, there is only one commander, and that's me. And what I say goes. Do you understand?"

The three nodded with reluctance and resumed their positions whereas he turned towards the elevator through which they entered. One of his boots was already past the silvery line when a cold and harsh voice spoke behind him, bringing him to a sudden halt

"You may be the commander of that team" 'One's voice lashed "But as a higher ranking officer, there is no way I would allow such a thing to happen"

With that, the man gave a good tug to the bandages around his hands and slammed a fresh magazine into the bottom of his G-36C

"I'm going with you"

Kaplan immediately rose to protest, but was shot down even quicker by two of his leader's fingers, directing him to sit down. He huffed out a reluctant "Yes sir" and complied, taking his seat onto the floor. Now that it was settled, 'One' pulled back on the loading handle of his weapon, cocking the Assault Rifle with a satisfying click and turning towards the elevator, standing behind the younger man

"By all means" he said and gestured inside with a bandaged hand "Beauty before age"

Nodding, the man stepped inside the elevator and turned back to face the group. Their faces reflected off the red material of his visor, his eyes focused on each of their faces; they did not seem broken, nor scared as he had through they would. Those faces were of worry, they worried about him. 'One' was about to take the same path into the elevator when a voice cried out, from the back of the group. A voice that he did not expect to hear

"No"

She sounded so different now; no longer the scared little girl he and the rest of the team had found during their assault on the mansion, there was something different about her now; she no longer sounded frightened, or hesitant, the way she was before. She was determined now, like a lioness, standing her ground in the face of a predator. She stood up; Rain tilted her head upwards, tracking her with her eyes, just like the rest of the people in the room. Her high heels carried her across the room swiftly, positioning her directly in front on 'One', who gave her a questioning look, his facial features hardening, his eyes burning holes into her own.

"You may be the highest ranking, but I'm the head of security" once more, the words rolled off her lips so naturally, as if she never forgot, as if the gas was never released into the bathroom, as if she never stopped being the head of security

"And I order you to stay here" she spoke with an unusual tone, her blue irises locked onto 'One's. The commander stayed motionless, his muscles frozen, much his expression, time froze as the two stared each other down, each looking for the other to look away, but that wasn't going to happen. Who did she think she is? Giving him orders like that

"That's. An order" she repeated. 'One' shifted his eyes away from her, nodding as he made room for her, stepping outside the elevator as Alice took position in the elevator.

Across the room, two blue orbs watched and two ears listened to the bizarre exchange of words that took place; The girl could not believe what she was seeing and hearing, her commander was being told like a toddler, and by no one else than her! She chuckled mentally and placed one hand on the wall to support her body as she stood up to her fullest form and taking a step forward.

"Won't you check this out" she said while grinning slightly and taking one step after another towards the elevator, disregarding Alice's astonishing stare

"Looks like someone's on a little power trip" she continued.

Her stroll led her to the entrance of the elevator; members of both teams, including 'One' were following each of the girl's steps. Tai had time to read a little about each of the Crimson Skulls' personalities and study their service records, and so far, the only one who wasn't acting according to what was stated there was Rain; she was quiet at first, even a little bitchy, the girl dared to think. But as action came aboard, she seemed to have changed, acting exactly like stated on her profile; loud mouthed, decisive and down to the point

"What're you doing?"

The words stuttered out of Alice's mouth. Even with her newly found role at the Hive, and with all the memories she slowly recovered; weapons training, hand to hand combat, demolitions, there was still a certain unexplained feeling that came over her as she confronted Rain. She wasn't afraid of her anymore, it wasn't that, but something else, something deeper, something she couldn't point out nor put her finger on it, but it was causing a lot of stress in her body.

As the words hit, Rain's grin slowly vanished and was replaced by her usual annoyed glare. She took another step into the metal box, separating herself from the outside floor and stepping into the elevator, her eyes rolled upwards and staring directly into the other girl's

"Babysitting" the female commando explained "Can't have you walking around all alone with _my _gun, now can I?"

Alice was taken aback by those words; what did the mean by 'Babysitting'? She could take care of herself just fine, she thought that she had proved that more than once to Rain, or anyone else in the group for that matter. Anger was building up inside of her, but so was the other feeling, the one she could not explain nor describe. It was bubbling inside her, the closer she got to the female commando, making her blood run faster and her brain to run circles.

"You're sick, Rain. I order you to stay here and regain your strength"

She spoke firmly, but Rain didn't seem to register it as her military boots took another step into the elevator, forcing Alice to take a step back. She had a few good inches over the fighter's stature, but as she stood so close to her, Alice could somewhat feel herself shrinking, being in the shadow of the great and mighty warrior. She did not like that.

"That's an order!" she exclaimed suddenly.

In response to that, Rain arched her foot, making only her right toes to support her weight, making her head elevate a few inches taller, putting it in line with Alice's. The annoyed glare in her eyes dissolved suddenly as her face was so close to the other girl's, her lips curving into a smirk, a small one, but a smirk nonetheless

"Blow me"

With that, her left hand was sent backwards and tapped the glowing DOWN button on the elevator's control panel. Realization struck Alice as soon as the starting jolt passed through the tin box as it started to descend slowly, the two large steel doors closing at the same pace. The three warriors; The Point Man, Rain and a shocked Alice gave their teammates final gazes before they were gone beyond their sight, at the very last second, before they were gone, Alice caught Kaplan's lips moving as the medic mouthed something to himself

"_Be safe. Oh God, be safe_"

(--T--)

He watched as the two doors slid shut, and his two friends, along with the FEAR Unit's commander. They sealed into place with a frightening noise of hydraulics, making it seem as if he would never see the trio ever again, imprisoning them far away from his reach in the darkness beyond the armored elevator door.

Kaplan sighed heavily and checked his Mini-Com; the green digits read 79:21 against the black background; less than an hour and twenty minutes before incineration. He wondered how it would feel to be burnt alive by a Thermal Unit, having treated burn wounds in the past; he had spent long time helping victims of either Napalm Strikes or flamethrowers grab hold to the slippery line of life he had provided them with, fearing to lose them with each passing second. He would rather treat amputees, shrapnel wounds and even people who were ran over by tanks and lost most of their legs, or worse, but the burn victims… He just couldn't handle them; seeing so much pain in their eyes and distorted faces, he could only imagine how it feels to have each and every nerve ending in your body screaming with pain

Soon, he will have more than just imagination

Shuddering, he drove those thoughts away; he knew that if he fixed his mind on defeat, then he would not be able to give all he's got to accomplish the mission.

_Those self fulfilling prophecies are a bitch… _

It was silent in the small room; each of the warriors was either preoccupied with something or just not willing to speak. The events that took place throughout the two teams' mission had given all the people present plenty to think about. Kaplan looked at his hand as a sudden feeling of an itch caught his attention; there was a tiny red spot of blood, a few millimeters above the end of his Kevlar jacket. He chuckled mentally; having escaped the attack of those things with a mere scratch, he's gotta be lucky.

"You've seen them too, right?"

Sling suddenly spoke up, catching the entire room by surprise. All eyes turned to him, but his own were locked onto the figure of James Shade. The tall man looked at him with a surprised look on his face, cocking an eyebrow as he spoke

"Seen who?"

The gunman strained to find words to describe what he had seen on floor Seven. Memories of their attack floated to his mind; slow, a nerve racking slow advancement of a horde of monsters, slowly gaining ground and numbers as they go along. Nearly impossible to stop, nearly impossible to kill.

"Those… Things that walk around in the lower levels"

His words hung grimly in the air; each man or woman in that room has sustained a certain fright of those things, each of them looking away to the floor, or an invisible spot on the wall, trying to fill one's mind with thoughts not regarding the abominations that roamed below them.

"We've been… Introduced, yeah" 'One' replied. He faced them only once, and a small group of them, but it was enough, even more than enough to seed fear into him.

"Do you…" he paused for a second; rethinking his question "Do you know what they are?"

'One' shook his head sideways "Judging by their clothing, I'd have to say they're scientists and technicians that used to work here, but as both of us know; every single person who worked here was killed by the Queen's attack" he paused for a second "How they turned from motionless bodies to… Whatever they are, I do not know"

Silence fell on the group suddenly; a certain disappointment could be seen in the gunman's eyes as he looked away from the tall commander and gave an embarrassed smile. In the back of the group, one of the members was waging a war inside his brain; arguing with himself as to weather to tell them or not, asking himself if they really need to know what they're working for, who and what were they protecting. It did not take him too long to come to the conclusion that they have been lied to and deceived long enough; it was time to at least try and shed some light on the situation. With that decision, the man stood up slowly, feeling a sudden rush of excitement flow into him

"I think I do"

'One' and Kaplan turned their heads with surprise; Matt?

"By all mean, do elaborate" the team's leader said.

A single bead of sweat rolled down his back; by this time, the young A.U.O Activist had enough time to judge the character of his newly made comrades, they proved okay, not being full of corruption as he had expected from someone, anyone, who worked for Umbrella, but some things are forever remembered, no matter how hard you try to forget, no matter how much do you want to forgive.

Some things just never go away.

_March 22__nd__, 2005, 23:45_

_A.U.O Outpost, somewhere in Quantico._

_He sat alone in his office, clearing his mind from the numerous thoughts and worries that plagued it constantly. His workspace wasn't much, but he made due with what was given to him; a small room in the building they occupied, a desk, a computer, a small water cooler that sat by the door and heaps of papers that laid all across the desk, some threatening to fall from his desk to the floor, creating even more disarray than there already was. A feat he himself thought as quite hard to achieve._

_But his thoughts weren't dedicated to the mess in his workspace, or to the classified document that was displayed on the large screen of his computer. As important as those things were, some other things possessed a greater importance, and bothered his mind and thoughts constantly, even interrupting his work on some occasions_

_Lisa_

_He picked up a picture from his desk, framed in a small brown wooden frame and supported by a black metal stand. Both of them appeared there; she was jumping on his back from behind, leaping from an elevated marvel platform that stood behind him and used to house a small patch of green grass in the urban jungle. She was staring directly at the camera each of her hands on one of his shoulders, smiling widely, he head peering over his shoulder while he on the other hand, was looking directly at her, his back hunched a bit and his lips curved into a smile. His eyes inspected more of the picture, going upward to scan the background and encountered the unmistakable red and blue Umbrella logo above the entrance of the building behind them, he could also see the two security guards that stood at the front door, wearing black suits and dark sunglasses, each of them wielding a small TMP. He remembered that day well; it was when they set off to case the Umbrella factory they had at Vay-Kap, right before his fellow operatives raided it_

_All and all, it was a fun day._

_His door suddenly swung open violently, crashing against the wall beside it with a thundering clap. He looked up to see one of his comrades; Dane Charles, a man in his early twenties with an unshaved face, brown eyes and dark hair, wearing nothing but ordinary civilian clothing. As soon as he looked up, Dane tossed a long piece of metal in his direction. Matt caught the thing and inspected it; it was a silver and orange AK-47._

_"What's going on?" he asked his friend, the latter was panting frantically by now._

_"Ronnie called in" Dane said while still panting "He spotted an Umbrella gunship heading this way"_

_"WHAT?!" he roared, slinging the AK-47 behind his back and addressing his computer; ejecting the disc in the drive and slipping it into his back pocket_

_"When did he contact?"_

_His mind raced as both he and friend made haste out of the office; lucky for him, his office was located in the first floor, meaning he wouldn't have to do much to make it to the exit of the two-story office complex his superiors have taken over. Just as they headed out of the office, all lights above them blinked off, plunging them into darkness and confusion, but he wasn't one to be taken by surprise by a little darkness, after all, he remembered every turn in the building by heart. He had to._

_He pumped his legs ever faster, going though small and dark corridors that lead into more offices that were already cleared out, he could spot some of his friends running the darkness, going in directions different that his, each of them had his or hers own escape routes, the A.U.O commanders determined it would be that way so that the entire personnel of an outpost would be captured like a large flock of sheep._

_Coming up on one of the glass doors that lead to his escape, he suddenly stopped; the sound of helicopter blades reached his ears, the constant churning of its large twin engines. Moments later, a ray of blue light pierced through the darkness, blinding both him and Dane, but he could still hear a dull sound, above the noise of the helicopter; breaking glass_

_"Get away!"_

_He cried and pushed both himself and Dane into an office that stood beside them. A second later, the Flash-Bang exploded, sending a deafening tone and a blinding explosion throughout the hallway. He could hear footsteps now; they've infiltrated the building! He had to get out!_

_Mustering all his strength, he took the butt of his AK-47 into the thin plaster wall in front of him, breaking a large hole in it and expanding it with further blows. He climbed through, Dane was close behind him, good, if not through the first floor, there was another emergency exit; the service elevators on the second floor_

_They came to the building's main hall; a large lobby that had stairs that led to the second floor, along with a set of three tall windows, stretching from the middle of the first floor the middle of the second. Three of his comrades were also standing there, but he couldn't tell who they were, it was too dark to see._

_Two of the windows broke suddenly as two silhouettes exploded in through the rain of broken glass shards that flew everywhere, wearing all black, their faces concealed by bulky gas masks. He was dumbfounded for a second, not believing his eyes; those weren't the usual U.B.C.S Units the corporation often sent after their organization, without much success, he dared thinking, those were Umbrella BlackOps Squads!_

_His three comrades trained their AK-47s at the two black devils that penetrated the building and opened fire, flashing muzzle fire all across the room as the ancient Russian Assault Rife let loose its deadly payload towards them, but they missed; their shots went low as the two Umbrella demons swung up and quick on the repelling cables that connected them to the outside, breaking off from them and landing onto the middle of the large staircase_

_Raising his gun up without hesitation, he opened fire, feeling the rattle of recoil against his shoulder and seeing the yellow flashes of muzzle fire as a long burst of ammunition was sent towards the commando that was higher up the stairs, the shots sailing a little above his masked head and exploding into the wall behind them_

_The two commandos began strafing down the stairs at a random and confusing pace, it was hard for him to even keep track of them in the darkness, but sonly enough, muzzle fire flashed again, this time from the wrong end, he heard two of his friends scream in agony, the last one gave a desperate battle cry and fired off as many bullets as his magazine contained, but a short burst of shorts from the other end quickly put both him and weapon to silence_

_"Sons of Bitches!"_

_He took off into a corridor that was a few feet to his right, Dane close behind him. They ran backwards, firing the machineguns in their hands at random bursts, trying to pin down the two warriors, but in no avail; the Umbrella devils seemed to disregard the shots fired in their direction and headed off after them. He wasn't going to be caught with his pants down in his own home field, he knew every turn and corner in the building, and was going to use that in his advantage, hoping the Umbrella commandos were less prepared than he was._

_Taking a sudden right, he led Dan to a small staircase; it was the emergency fire escape. They raced through it quickly, climbing up the floors as fast as they could in complete darkness, their footsteps echoing above the muffled sounds of gunshots that rang through the silence in the building. The two stopped near the door that lead to the second floor, Dane busted it down with a single and powerful blow from his shoulder and swooped into the floor, he followed closely_

_Pumping their legs to go as fast as they could, the two raced in and between rooms and offices that were deserted of all life, not a good sign at all, he thought, but their worries were soon to be over, for he could already see the brown elevator doors in the distance._

_They stopped near the elevators, each taking position near on of the brown doors and mashing the 'CALL' button with his finger, pushing frantically in hopes of it to reach faster. He was glad his commander issued an order for the elevators to be run on a separate power system, or he would have been in greater trouble than he already was_

_Ping!_

_The elevator Dane was working on Beeped into life, the doors began sliding open, and both he and his friend took they positions, but as the door opened to their fullest, he was struck by shock; inside was the form on another of the Umbrella commandos, the unmistakable black uniform showing clear, even in the pitch black they were in_

_"Going my way?"_

_The commando asked in a mocking way and send his right arm into a hook, connecting directly with Dane's jawline and making the man to literally spin in midair before he fell unconscious to the ground. He raised the Assault Rifle in his hands and opened fire into the small cabin, making the dark warrior roll for cover and close the elevator doors as bullets ricocheted in and out of the small tin box._

_He took off once more, trying his best at carrying Dane; the larger man propped onto his shoulders, both his arms slung over his shoulders, his feet dragging behind him as he mustered all his force and walked as fast as he could. Gunfire still reached his ears; short bursts of precise fire and longer, more continuous streams of rounds that blew holes into walls all around him, where he could not see them. He took Dane into a larger office, made out of two offices that had the separating wall between them broken, allowing entrance and exit from either end of the room_

_Footsteps, there was someone outside! _

_He ducked behind one of the walls that made the doorway, placing the still unconscious Dane next to him. He trained his ears to listen to the voices outside; there were at least two sets of footsteps; a definite bad sign. He checked the right side of his AK-47; the slide was thrown back, the insides of the firing chamber visible. He swore, the weapon was out of ammunition._

_"Status" he heard a voice outside, it made him stick to wall with fear of detection. The voice was male, with a British accent._

_"Rolling as planned" another replied; a woman, her accent Asian. "J.D and Romano are cracking their security system and deleting everything they have. High command is gonna give us a week off after this"_

_The other voice chuckled while he clenched his teeth with anger_

_"And the hostiles?" To that, he listened closely; the fate of his comrades was of great interest to him._

_"Most are detained or killed" the woman replied "Casualties were minimal however, only five dead so far"_

_"High command are gonna cream their pants off this" the male said, chuckling again "I'm gonna head back to Rally Point Alpha. We'll debrief with 'One' as soon as we're done here"_

_"Yes sir"_

_One set of footsteps could be heard again, going away from his location. He was about to heave out a sigh when the memory of the other commando; the woman still standing by the door, came to his mind. He remained motionless and as silent as death itself, not daring to make a sound with fear of capture surging inside him, pumping adrenaline and sweat through his system, but he had to calm down. He tried settling his erratic breathing, trying to make it as silent and stable as he could, but it wasn't getting him anywhere; he could not master his body into doing that, the waves of fear that coursed through him were just too much_

_"Ooh…"_

_His head was torn off his neck as he spun it to the left. Dane was coming to it, and released a muffled groan of pain, which sounded almost like a cannon going off inside his ears. Outside, he could almost feel the female's body tensing as the sound hit her ears._

_"Hello?"_

_She called out, her voice muffled, probably by the gas mask on her face. He did not answer, nor did Dane, who was now leaning against the wall on his own, he placed his hand softly on his friend's mouth, telling him to keep quiet. Understanding, the man nodded._

_The sound of a footstep reached his ears; she was coming closer! He braced himself against the wall, grabbing the AK-47 with both his hands, his lips tightening with rage and fear as he prepared his body to attack._

_With a dull sound, the door slid open, but still none entered. The adrenaline in his body was driving him mad; he had to attack, he had to strike and relieve himself of the adrenaline buildup inside him. He just couldn't take it anymore!_

_A long and dark barrel of a Colt Commando peered into the room, followed by a military combat boot, a black panted leg, a hand wielding the weapon, finger locked on the trigger. He sealed his lips and closed his eyes with a millisecond long prayer. The whole body phased through the door, along with the head. Now was his chance! _

_**WHAM! **_

_The butt of his AK-47 met the back of the warrior's head with strength and speed that surprised even him. She gave out a short and surprised cry of pain before her body gave way to unconsciousness and collapsed to the floor like a broken house of cards._

_He threw the weapon aside and took a few steps towards her, kneeling over her body and inspecting it closely; she was in her mid-twenties if he had to guess, long black hair tied into a tight ponytail behind her head, underneath it was a newly made cut by the butt of his Assault Rifle, it was bleeding a bit, but he didn't care; those Umbrella scum got what they deserve. His eyes drafted lower, to the warrior's shoulder; it was in insignia he would never forget, a unit patch, sewn into the jet black uniform_

_It was a skull, he wasn't surprised; it was rumored that most Umbrella commando units are actually some kind of 'Death Squads'. The skull was not human shaped, much thinner, and with monstrous motives such as long and sharp teeth and a jaw line shaped into a mangled grin. Its eye was painted into a glare, its insides blood red with a black crosshair cutting through. Behind the skull were parts of what seemed to be an MP-5, most of weapon hidden by the skull itself, and in the background, the hexagonal Umbrella logo._

_Crimson Skulls…_

"Matt"

'One's voice snapped him out of his daydream. He seemed disoriented for a second, unsure of whether he is in the present or back in the past, but a simple shake of the head out him back to reality, He looked at the older man for a second and then shifted away, staring into space as he spoke

"They're Bio-Weapons" he said "Created by the Umbrella Corporation"

His voice was monotonous and quiet, like he had already told it a million times, but still took a major affect on the group; most of them seemed shocked, not understand what he was meaning, some shifted in their place, but 'One' did not let out and proceeded with another question

"How so?" he asked "How were they created?"

Matt looked at him with disbelief; did he really not know? Had Umbrella lied even to its own men? To the same men they put to guard the Hive? Did they really not know what was going on down here?

"You probably know as well as I do that Umbrella isn't really just producing medications and computer parts"

"Yeah" 'One' replied "In fact, its possesses some of the fattest military contracts I've ever heard off"

"That's right" Matt said "But they're not big in the field of conventional weapons; missiles, smart bombs and all that. Umbrella's specialty is Biological Warfare" he sighed for a moment and continued "For the past ten years, Umbrella have been working on and perfecting a newer, deadlier type of virus, back then, at 1997, it was known as the G-Virus"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on" Tyler cut him off "You're telling me this place, the Hive, existed for over ten years, undetected?"

"Yeah" he replied "Anyway, somewhere on 1998, there's been an outbreak of the G-Virus at the Hive. A team of Umbrella Commandos was sent down to initiate a self destruction protocol and destroy the Hive and its surrounding by a nuclear explosion. I don't know if they succeeded, my organization wasn't able to get its hands on that information"

"Organization?" 'One' seemed amused "So you are with the A.U.O"

"Sergeant Matthew Addison, Haze division" he replied "You raided my outpost two years ago, I was nearly captured, but managed to get away"

Kaplan nodded as he took a harder look on the man "I do remember you"

"You better" Matt replied, grinning slightly "You shot me"

"Anyway" 'One' interjected, trying to get back on topic "You were saying…?"

"Oh, right" he took a breath "You'd think Umbrella would be smart enough as to shut down the Hive after the outbreak, but they didn't. The Hive was reopened a few months afterwards, Death Squads were sent in to clear out whatever was down there, most of the people in those squads were either killed or locked up in mental hospitals today, talking about the walking dead and of monsters…"

"Along with that" he continued "They refunded their research on the G-Virus, now having witnessed it in action, they kept developing it, making it more lethal, more infectious and better than ever. The final synthesized version that my superiors are familiar with is known only as the T-Virus"

"T-Virus…" Sling mouthed the words when his eyes suddenly lit up "We were told that a viral agent known as Project T was released into the hive"

"You have to realize" Matt concluded, his voice was low and grim "You are no longer soldiers, and I'm no longer an activist. We're all test subjects, lab rats Umbrella is using to test their newest toy at"

His words sunk into members of both teams, each seemed to be taking in hard, trying to ignore the meaning, trying to look away, stare into blank, some were deep into thoughts, processing what he had just told them, wondering if its true or is he just lying to them, but one of them seemed to take it the hardest; she sat in the back now, her Assault Rifle placed beside her, her head hung low, both her hands grabbing it, digging into her luscious brown hair

"Oh my god…" she said over and over again, shaking her head as her fingers sunk deeper and deeper

"Oh my god…"

(----------X--------)

It's the beginning of the end here folks, I'm already starting to arrange lists of character deaths and survivors in preparation to the final showdown. There are a long of characters, and some of them may die, some may survive, I wouldn't know just yet, as I'm still setting up the death lists. If you want a certain character to survive OR die, please tell me about it in your review, I'd like to see that.

Also, a cookie to whoever tells me which of the Crimson Skulls members appeared during Matt's flashback, and who of them did what.

As a last comment, you should be aware that the final Boss will NOT be an 'uber-licker' as it was in the movie, but something else. A hint to its identity is found in earlier chapters. Another cookie to whoever can tell me what it is.

Review and wash. Wash and review.

Until next time!


	15. Entry One: Descent

Guess who's back folks?! That's right, ME! Sorry I've been away so long, my commander dropped a three-week stay at the base on me by surprise. Needless to say, I was most surprised, any annoyed, but it's okay! I had an entire week to write it, and when I checked the reviews for the last chapter, I was very surprised for the better! Dudes, I got two new reviewers! How cool is that?!

Now, on with review replies!

_**Tanya Adams64-**_GAH! You reviewed again! Thank you so much, and I really enjoyed writing the flashback scene

_**Lunatic Pandora-**_ Give it a little thought, dude, you wouldn't like it to happen, it'll make the story end too soon. Nevertheless, the Point Man is gonna show more than a little of his badass traits in this story, and on a side note, I think you're gonna like this chapter A LOT. :P

_**Warboy the Destroyer-**_(Both reviews) Well, you could, and should have checked Wiki before telling me that the AT-14 is not a handgun. The AT-14 is the standard issued handgun for all F.E.A.R personnel and it is said so clearly if you checked wikipedia (AT stands for Ameracham Technologies and not for Anti Tank). Secondly, I was dead positive I made up the UG-25A (once again, U standing for Umbrella and the G, well, Grenade), so sorry if I confused you. Thirdly, nuclear weapons could not be used in the Hive. Just think what would happen if three 50 Kt. Warheads went off below Raccoon City, it would be demolished. Incinerator charges would burn off any trace of the T-Virus' presence within the hive and still leave Raccoon City in the darkness.

_**Firebird41-**_Whoa, yeah, I should defiantly watch my grammar while writing, sorry if it offended you. I hope you enjoyed reading my other chapters as well and hope to see you review on further chappies too!

_**Chief Ratchet**_- Dude! Yeah! Totally, if I could, I'd so go with that option! But you and I both know that this is a Resident Evil fan fiction, so some of the good guys will have to die. As unfortunate as it is, I could only assure you that bastards like Cain will eventually meet their faiths.

_**Xmaster**__­- Holy crap! You reviewed! I feel so honored, you have no friggin' Idea, I take so much pride that you have dedicated of your precious time to review my fic! Also, I'd love to see the next chapter of The Void of Existence™ Coming out ASAP. Thanks:)_

Also readers, heed my warning, there's gonna be a little surprise at the last bit of this chappie, but WAIT! Don't scroll all the way down now, read it through, I promise, it's worth the waiting!

Disclaimer: I own two DVD's of the Resident Evil movies and F.E.A.R and its expansion, Extraction Point.  
Tintsy Wintsy Author's Note: My profile page has been updated, be sure to check it out!

(-----V-----)

Interval Five: Different Paths  
Entry One: Descent

Thermal Units Status- Priming. Time Remaining- 74 Minutes

The small tin box rattled once in a while in its course down, the long metallic cables which attached it to the powerful engine system sometimes got stuck in the large machinery, causing a jolt to pass through them and into the small car. A spinning yellow light on top of it gave way suddenly and went off, plunging the entire elevator shaft into complete darkness.

Inside the car itself, there was quiet; the three figures that stood inside it stood each on its own personal space, not talking, not moving, each caught in his or hers line of thought. They were headed into unknown territory, without any knowledge of what awaited them when the two doors open; more creatures, perhaps a trap, or something even worse.

He snapped out one of the compartments in his vest, checking for its contents; the lone green N6A3 fragmentation grenade sat there, ready for use, in another compartment, extra ammunition, bandages, drinking water and a spare patch of Kevlar, to fix a broken piece in his armor. He sighed with relief, all there, at least he would not have to worry about that, he had other things to worry about first. He gave much thought to the idea of him leading a team now, not standing alone like he used to, the thought terrified him to no end; people's lives were placed right in his hand, their fates connected to his commands, meaning that if he made a mistake, they would be the ones to pay for it

_Just like Jin…_

No! He mentally screamed, his life ended after those hours in Auburn City, it was as if he left them back there, among the burning ruins of the large metropolis, unable to move on, to stop thinking about each and every horrifying second he spent there, among the carnage and death. He sighed; some things just never go away, even when they have to, even when you want them to go so badly you'd do whatever it takes to make them vanish from your memory.

He was at ease now, having regressed those memories once more, pushing them to the back corners of his mind, putting the mission ahead at the top of his priority list, focusing on nothing but its completion. His eyes shifted to girl with the black hair ahead of him; Rain. She did not look at her best, he could tell there was something deeply wrong with her, and yet, he caught a glimpse of a familiar look in her dull eyes, it was determination, he knew the girl was one of the best troopers at Umbrella's disposal, having inspected her profile before he and team departed. His eyes glided down her body to her two hands, wielding the black MP-5 Sub-Machinegun, she seemed combat ready, just eager to burst through the door and put a bullet through something's head

"C'mon… Open up" he heard her hiss out

His glance shifted, moving away from Rain to the other girl, Alice. It was only then that he noticed that she was looking at him; her two blue orbs were perplexed on his figure, he felt as if he was some statue or a picture in a museum which she was looking at with so much interest. She seemed to not notice the fact that he was looking back at her, and the way she was just staring bothered him

"What?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin as the words hit her ears; her body tensed up suddenly, her expression shifted into a surprised one as she tried to regain her composure, smiling awkwardly

"S-Sorry" she stammered "It's just that, you look familiar to me"

He gave her an odd look; her face was defiantly one that is not easily forgotten, and his connection with Umbrella personnel was very limited until today, in fact, this was the first time he even came into contact with the corporation outside of a simple trip to the pharmacy or the grocery store.

"I don't think we've ever met" he replied in his raspy voice "I don't recall seeing you"

"Neither do I"

Her eyes locked onto his figure, it was so weird to her; she only knew him since they met near the elevator shafts, several minutes ago, but now, having given him more than an early glance, a strange feeling engulfed her, it was as if she knew him long ago, in a different life, his name, or anything else about him unknown to her.

_"Alice, there's someone I'd like you to meet_"

_She stuffed once last slice of pancake into her mouth, those were tasty, even though there was nothing natural about them, then brought her hands to clean her face with a handkerchief; they were smaller, more pale than they were now, matching the size of a teenager maybe. She followed the man in white clothing out of her dining room and into another room, where three people were; two were grown men, soldiers, they had large guns in their hands, guns which Alice recognized as AR-15's, they wore blue uniforms and matching hats, the only thing not blue in their outfits was the black tactical armor on their chest, reading in three white letters_

_ATC_

_"Alice, I'd like you to meet your new friend, A-24"_

_He was a teenager, about her age, if she guessed, he had short, military cut brown hair that merged with his brown eyes perfectly, he wore blue uniform, much like the two men beside him, only he did not have the armor they had on them_

_"A-24 is going to train with us for the close while, Alice, so be nice to him"_

She was cast back into reality by a silent yelp of pain, made by a woman. Her eyes locked onto Rain; she grabbed her right ear, her teeth clutched together and her face distorted in a motion of pain. She tore out the earpiece of her comm. System and discarded it to her shoulder, rubbing the inside of her ear with two gloved fingers

"Goddamn it" she hissed out "Fucking interference"

The elevator slammed into a sudden halt, reminding the three of where they were and of their mission. Both the Point Man and Rain had already raised their weapons, the female commando allowing her male counterpart to take the lead as the two silvery doors opened slowly

_A deafening tone filled his ears, a high pitched screech, accompanied by a blinding white flash of light. He closed his eyes, swearing on the inside, the timing could not have been worse, he thought. The light began fading away, the tone was weakening, and he allowed his eyes to open inside his helmet, inspecting his surroundings, the all so familiar surroundings_

_He was in the corridor again, the same green floored and white walled corridor he was always in, the same corridor with the two large doors at the end, two doors with glass windows, and the screams of the little girl that echoed through. He gulped hard and tightened the grip on his RPL Sub-Machinegun, about to take his first step into the horror that awaited him; he reminded himself that he had to remain calm, no matter what he saw, no matter what happened_

_"What, the FUCK, is this?!"_

His eyes tore to the left, brain refusing to believe what was occurring in front of his eyes, and yet, there she was;

Rain

She scanned the corridor quickly with narrow eyes, unable to realize where she was, or how she got there, the safety on her MP-5 clicked off with purposes of self assurance. Behind her was Alice, also looking round and round with her blue eyes wide

"You… You can see it?"

His mouth ran dry; this has never happened before! The only one who could see those visions was him, none other. Rain turned her head towards him and simply rolled her eyes, sighing and shaking her head at his stupid question

"Of course we can see it. Did you think we're blind?"

Her tone was of annoyance, it sent him back a bit, but nonetheless, surprised him. Rain took the vision much better than he did the first time it happened

"We gotta move" he said, about to take a step forward. He suddenly looked back onto the two girls

"Remember: stay calm, no matter what you do, don't attack anything, no matter what, do NOT attack!"

Rain and Alice gave an approving nod. He looked ahead and took the first step, the hardest of them all. The lights began flickering all of a sudden, plunging them into worlds of light and darkness that blended one into the other, he took another step, the smell of blood and flesh was already at his nostrils, he looked aside; the walls were beginning to be colored by a deep crimson liquid that seemed to emit from the ceiling, the green floor also began sprouting pools of red that splashed with each step the three took

"What in God's name…" he heard the Latina behind him say, he turned to look at her; her face was as pale as chalk, her eyes perplexed on the walls, shifting from one wall to the other, her jaw slung open with an oppression of blind fear.

He did not reply, there was nothing he could say. He knew what they were going through, he felt the same way the first time it happened, but they had to move on, to end the vision.

They advanced on down the bloodied corridor, the screams were growing louder and louder, the smell of smoke was now reaching them, coming through the two large doors. The closer they got, the stronger the small became, and as they reached close enough to see, they registered the flames that beamed through from the other side of the doors.

He made a grab for the door handle, smiling with relief, soon, this will all be over.

He twisted and pulled.

They were in another hallway now, his field of vision was blurry, but he knew exactly where he was, the lights above him flickered on and off at random, showing bit by bit of the all-white corridor, and of the figure at the other of the corridor

"Who… Who is that?"

Rain's voice shook in her throat as she spoke; it looked like a little girl, walking towards them from the other end of the hallway; she was wearing a deep red dress, her long black hair was covering the most of her pale face. She was advancing towards the three

"Don't… Move"

The Point Man spoke coldly, his voice was deeper than before

"No matter what you see, don't move"

The girl's figure suddenly grew, as if she rapidly aged. She was much taller now, with only her long black hair covering her naked body, she looked pale, wounded, scarred by many black and blue marks across her body, still advancing towards them.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

The female commando's voice now elevated, her blue eyes widened, sweat covered her body, Her fingers gripped the black gun in her hands with fear levels peaking through her paining and sick body. Behind her, Alice could do nothing but stand, against her own will, she was petrified, fear caused her feet to strike roots into the ground and her body to turn into wood, she was paralyzed with fear.

"She can't hurt you, this isn't real"

His voice was softer now, he was trying to calm her down, the last thing he needed was shots to be fired, he knew what would happen if it did happen, even he was scared of that option. In the meantime, the teenager was once again replaced by the figure of the little girl, taking slow, little steps towards them

"I… I can hear her inside me!"

Rain exclaimed in panic, her head was filled with a little girl's voice, whispering unclear words, parts of sentences that merged into a horrible drabble inside the young woman's mind

_"Kill them…"_

_"Kill them all…"_

_"NO!"_

The girl's figure turned adult again, but not walking. She was on all fours, her hair covering her face as she crawled in an inhuman way towards the three. At that moment, Rain's panic peaked, her finger squeezed hard on the trigger of her MP-5, muzzle fire and red hot lead were spewed out of the barrel towards the oncoming form on the girl, which vanished into a black blur at the first hit

A horrible scream filled their ears now as the walls began to explode with fire, pushing away from each other as the sound of churning flames filled the empty dark space that was beginning to reveal around them

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO ATTACK!"

He screamed over the sounds of the scream and the fire, his gun was ready at his hands, he thought he left those nightmares back at Auburn City, and yet, there they were, coming to attack him again.

Ripples began emerging from within the flames, it was as if the air around them was being torn apart by an unseen force, bent and twisted as shadowy figures began exiting the flaming ripples. Rain looked all around her, her mind at the brink insanity; what the fuck was going on?!

They looked like humans, sliced in half and colored in a reflective black color, only their upper body showing out of the ripples, their faceless heads bore a pair of huge yellow eyes and their long arms ended with long, claw-like fingers

At first they moved slowly, floating in an odd way, as if moving forward only by inertia, but a second later, the monsters seemed to have locked on to the group of three, moving towards them at an insane speed, their long hands reaching forward

Rain froze, her mind refused to work, to acknowledge its surroundings, and the threat that was coming at it at such fast speed. The flying nightmare got inches in front of her face, its claws nearly connected with her face until a short burst of weapon's fire reduced it to a black blur that evaporated into the darkness

"What're you sitting around for?! Kill 'Em!"

He screamed and took aim at another three, his finger squeezing the trigger as three rounds escaped the barrel of his gun and connected with their targets. He sprinted forward, separating himself from the rest of the group and opening fire directly into a large clutter of the nightmares, obliterating them within seconds

Alice's composure was regained quickly enough. She reached for Rain's thigh holster and drew out her 9mm Beretta, cocked the hammer and took aim.

One of them found the two girls and began flying towards them, moving at an insane speed. Alice wasted no time, the barrel of the weapon aligned with the body of the creature and she opened fire. The recoil was felt hard through her arms, but the creature soon depleted into a blur. She wasted no time, turning around and shooting another right in the face. It was then that she heard automatic fire reaching from behind her, turning her head quickly, she found Rain in an attack position, also reducing the ranks of those oncoming monsters.

"Alice, look out!"

She turned, one of them was millimeters away from her, its claws reached up and were about to be brought down, but a loud gunshot from her Beretta prevented that.

The Point Man ran with all his stamina and speed burning in his legs, he pumped them faster, moving through one clutter of the nightmares to the other, exterminating them with his RPL Sub-machinegun, giving out long bursts of fire that escaped the barrel into the bodies and heads of those ghosts.

He skidded to a halt, another ripple began, right behind him. He turned around and shouldered the weapon, only 17 rounds left in the magazine, he would have to make them all count. The first ghost exited the ripple, but he didn't fire, even as the second came out, and the third, all the way to the sixth. It was when they began storming towards him that his gun roared out the final burst, making the six apparitions evaporate into a blur. His gun clicked empty, the slide thrown forward, he knew the rules, she only allowed one magazine per weapon, no grenades. He discarded the weapon, allowing it to sling to his side, about to take a step towards the two girls

Rain screamed

"Shit! Look-"

He looked back with the corner of his eye, a long dark claw was about to meet with his shoulder and split it in half. There was nothing he, nor any other human being could do to stop the attack

Lucky for him, he wasn't that human

_Byuuuuuuuuuuuuup_

_"- Ouuuuuuuuuuuut!!!"_

_The fires have become a mass of scattered red and orange mountains, air trails, left by rounds fired by Rain's gun were clearly visible, her mouth wide open as she did not finish pronouncing the word. Behind her, Alice was thrown back a bit, an explosion of fire standing at the tip of her barrel, the copper-like color of the bullet showing through the flame._

_He ducked down, avoiding the ghost's sweeping motion, the large claw missing him by a great length of air as it swept above him. He reached for the back of his vest and drew out two short black batons, thin and sharp. In a single sweeping motion, he sliced the monster in half, he could clearly see it burning now, black fires consuming its form before completely disappearing, but he did not stop._

_He allowed the momentum to sweep him forward, towards another of the monsters, raising his other hands and sticking the baton directly between its large eyes and in a third motion, cleaved another's head clear off._

He stood still for a second, fixing his breath before regaining his position, the two black batons were still in his hands, it would have seen that the two girls missed his performance, good, that's less explaining to-

"RAIN!"

He screamed suddenly, five of the apparitions appeared from nowhere, picking Alice as their target. She turned around, Alice had already gunned down one of them, but as she aimed at the other, her pistol clicked, fresh out of ammo.

Rain wasted no time, clicking the safety to Auto, she fired in an arch, catching three of the black demons in a display of rapid response before her weapon clicked empty. One remained, and it was too close

He thought quickly, winding his arm and throwing it forward, unleashing the baton in his right hand towards the demon. It took a few spins in the air before ultimately connecting with the monster's face, it did not open its palm for the attack, yet its closed, fist like hand connected with Alice's left cheek before the monster vanished

White light engulfed them again, and as it dimmed down, the three found themselves still standing inside the elevator shaft. Rain was laying flat on the floor, Alice above her, but she quickly got up and headed out of the small compartment, into the corridor ahead

"What the crap were those things?"

Rain asked suddenly. She was getting to her feet, dusting herself off and slamming a fresh one into her MP-5, reloading it with a weak tap on its left side. He turned back and looked at her, holstering his two batons and reloading his RPL.

"Illusions, nothing more"

He said simply, lying, he did not know what they were, he never did, only that they could hurt him, and that by no means were they mere illusions. He looked ahead into the corridor, the floor must have taken a great deal of damage from the bomb explosion earlier; the ceiling was literally torn apart with electric equipment dangling from it, fixtures for long florescent lights were hanging down only by a long electric wire or two, giving off sparks at random, blue light flickered on and off at random throughout the long and dark hallway, showing more destruction as a long metal beam collapsed from the ceiling and was now leaning diagonally against one of the walls

Rain gave out a sudden cough, then another, she balled her hand into a fist and placed it before her mouth as she did, her expression changed, even coughing was hurting her, it was clear on her face, and to the Point Man's mind:  
Something was wrong with her

"C'mon" she said, coughing again "We gotta move"

With that, she moved out of the compartment, taking a few steps into the corridor, but she stopped next to the figure of her friend. _Friend_, she chuckled mentally, that's not something she thought she would call the girl in civilian clothing when the mission began. She thought up several other names, but they weren't too nice to call someone with.

Alice was leaning against the wall, supporting herself with one hand, her eyes closed, so were her lips. Rain took a step towards her, standing inches away from her

"Hey, you okay?"

Her voice was unbelievably soft, it even surprised her at how much her tone and attitude has changed towards the girl. Alice nodded without opening her eyes and then spat out a good deal of blood mixed with saliva onto the floor, wiping her lips with her hand

"It's just that for smoke and mirrors, these guys hit pretty good"

(--T--)

He ran, blood pumped through his body, fueling his muscles. The weight of his vest, his holsters and his weapon was heavy on him, but he was not bothered. His army boots thumped hard against the metal floor as he rounded a corner, the automatic Assault Rifle in his hands longing for a target. Seconds before, his squad mate, Echo-One, was able to spot a target, the creature whom which they were looking for. On the Heads-Up Display of his helmet, a red crosshair appeared, underneath it a number in red digits, the distance to the target

60m

He rounded yet another corner, his weapon at the ready

41m

Ducking under a series of pipes to shorten the distance, he emerged from between two rows of metal crates

15m (Visual)

He sprinted, his eyes scanned all around franticly, trying to find Echo One, or the target

1m

He looked around, the barrel of his G2A2 following his gaze. Nothing. He was in a sort of cubical space, created by several tall pillars, placed each near the other. He looked left and right, even up, but found nothing

Echo-Three emerged through the small cubical and moved ahead. Something happened, he was sure of that, but contact to his squad mate was lost, he had to search for him.

"Echo-One. Report"

He swept into another row of tall pillars, the laser designator on the bottom of his weapon casting a red line into the darkness. Taking cautious steps

"Echo-Two, this is Echo-Three, I've lost contact with Echo-One, requesting assistance on my location"

"-Roger that"

Echo-Three finished the transmission and sonly after, left to the main hallway again. His eyes constantly drifted left and right, scanning for either Echo-One or the creature. He knew the thing was fast, and was well capable of sneak attacks, but he would not allow himself to be caught off guard, not now.

It wasn't long before Echo-Two arrived as well. The two said nothing, and simply moved together, searching through the floor, guns drawn, breath silent, wishing to be as stealth as they could as to not alert the creatures

"WAAAAAAAAGH!!"

A piercing scream of pain tore through their ears, echoing throughout the large room, bouncing over the pillars and from within the darkness. Both shouldered their weapons in a response and advanced forward, inspecting even more thoroughly than they did before

"He's over there"

Echo-Two said and took off running. Echo-Three followed closely, they sprinted now, their senses as sharp as ever, heading towards the source of the scream.

They rounded a corner, torches flashed; they saw it

Two horrible creatures, looking like skinless apes, their brains exposed and their teeth razor sharp, were hunched over the bleeding body of their squad mate, their squad leader. Echo-Two raised his ASP gun, the safety clicked off, alerting the creatures. Both stopped and turned towards the two soldiers, fresh blood still running from their lips, a piece of Echo-One's urban camouflage uniform was still dangling from one of the creatures' mouths.

Echo-Two took aim, the crosshair aligned with the head of one of the creatures, locked in dead-center. The thing seemed to have noticed that and gave out an animalistic roar, extending an unearthly long tongue

"Die motherfucker"

He pulled the trigger, muzzle fire flashed in the dark room as three High-Power rounds left their casings towards its body, connecting with the floor instead and creating a bright display of sparks as the three rounds ricocheted off to somewhere else, vanishing into the darkness.

"SUPRESSIVE FIRE!"

Echo-Three raised his G2A2 and unleashed an endless barrage of bullets down the isle, the long black barrel trying to track the two creatures that bounced off from one pillar to the other, heading towards them, but he kept aiming too late, only connecting with the metal pillars and giving off sparks and ricochets. The two creatures were incredibly agile, beating even the two Replicas' heightened reflexes as both soldiers now let loose a barrage of firepower in the direction of the two creatures

But it was too late

One of them reached striking distance and leaped off, its claws stretched forward, its mouth open in an inhuman roar as its disgusting form approached the two supersoldiers with clear intentions of killing.

Echo-Three reacted faster, grabbing on both the middle and the barrel of his gun, he turned it into a high-tech version of a baseball bat and slammed the stock full force into the head of the oncoming creature, causing it to screech in pain and take a flight into another isle. With that, the other creature did not attack, but leapt aside into the same isle as its brother, giving the two soldiers a second to catch their breaths.

The two reloaded their weapons with fresh magazines and quickly headed out, hoping to catch the two beings before they'd have a chance to set another ambush

"On me"

Echo-Three took a few cautious steps and turned suddenly and rapidly, checking multiple angles in rapid succession; nothing, the creatures seemed to have vanished. The two scanned their surroundings with sharp eyes and ears, but could not see nor hear anything, those creatures, whatever they were, proved very efficient at hiding themselves, lurking, waiting for the two to make a mistake and let their guard down so they could attack.

That was not going to happen, not with Replicas

Another corner, another empty isle, but this time, he heard something, a scuttling noise, nails clicking against the floor

_Or were they claws…_

The two turned just in time to see a shadow fly past them, with weapons at waist height, the two moved after the dark form, chasing it. They ran past the corner it flew past, but saw nothing but darkness. Once more, they heard a noise, louder this time, a growl, to their right

Echo-Two was the first to turn and register the two creatures that stood in the isle, flashing their red, skinless heads at his gun, growling to themselves in the darkness. They must've been thinking he wasn't able to see them, that is why they did not scatter when his flashlight met with them

"Target located, preparing to engage"

He spoke quietly as to not alert them, shouldering the ASP rifle in his hands and putting his eye to the sniper scope. The TrijiCon X4 sight provided him with all the focus and zoom he needed, aligning the center of the crosshair with one of the creatures' heads, he was sure not to miss this time. His finger caressed the trigger, he took a breath and exhaled, relaxing.

He didn't even make it to pull the trigger when Echo-Three tapped his shoulder, motioning him to look to his left and right. He did, and was mortified; at least six more of those things, two at each corner, were looking at them, casing them in the darkness, advancing slowly in cautious steps through the darkness that their torches penetrated, not caring for it, dismissing it, their targets were outnumbered and outmaneuvered into an ambush

Echo-Two nodded, then pointed towards the isle his weapon was trained it, shaking his hand once as he did

"Three seconds" he said. The other nodded

Two

One

"Now!"

The two stormed down the corridor, catching the two creatures by surprise with their gunfire. They both scattered in opposite directions, one of them taking several hits to the rear leg as it sprouted blood in mid-jump. The rest of the creatures roared with rage and bolted right after them, their moist breaths heard clearly in the ears of the two soldiers

"Cover fire!"

Echo-Three turned around at his squad mate's order, opening fire, literally spraying into the crowd of creatures that attacked them as he ran backwards, but the things' unearthly agility surprised him again as they leaped and jumped in and between the pillars to avoid the shell shower he pelted them with

_Click_

"Reload!"

Echo two took his place now, giving shorter, more accurate bursts of fire into a specific monster, connecting once in a while as a long stream of blood lashed out from a leg. He was surprised, the impact of those rounds could tear the shoulder bone off a living human, it merely caused wounds when it made contact with those. Echo Three soon resumed his firing routine, this time able to connect with several of his shots, making some of them slow down, or even stop dead in their tracks, so long as he kept them away from their pouncing range, the two were doing okay.

"Over there!"

His comrade cried, pointing with a finger into a random direction. Echo-Three focused his eyes; they reached the boundaries of the room, he could spot the blackness of the wall ahead of him, but there was something else there, something hung on the wall; it was a red case with a glass barrier, above which something was written in white letter. He strained his eyes and his adrenaline flashed brain to focus, trying to read the words, he almost grinned as they came clear to him

IN CASE OF BOILOGICAL EMERGENCY- BREAK GLASS

The two reached their destination, Echo-Two allowed the momentum to carry him forward as he took the butt of his weapon and slammed it hard against the black glass, shattering it completely. He reached inside and pulled out a weapon of sort; it resembled a strange combination of a rocket launcher and a flamethrower, having two large gas tanks connected to an H-rack, a long tube stretching from them to the weapon, which had a long black barrel, a short body with a styled handle and an optical sight placed on top, a large looking magazine and a long stock with a deep dent in it, fitting for a human shoulder and two white letters branded into it

HV

He strapped the H-rack onto him, discarding his ASP Rifle and flipping the ARM switch located on the rail of the weapon. He placed his eye into the optical sight and revealed a loading meter of sorts, indicating that the weapon was being armed.

One of the creatures skidded to a halt in front of them, it roared, alerting its brothers of the prey, and attack, sprinting towards them

-58 Percent-

Echo-Three held up his G2A2 and opened fire, but the creature was too fast, once again evading the bursts, more joined from behind, not wanting to miss out on the attack

-67 Percent-

Muzzle fire flashed as the Replica was aiming frantically at the creatures, yet missing every shot, it was as if they were designed especially to avoid all his shots. He started firing in more concentrated bursts, his ammunition was running low

-83 Percent-  
-85 Percent-  
-91 Percent-

A red crosshair now appeared in the middle of the optical sight, tracking the movements of his eyes. He stared directly at the creature, the first one who ran at them

-99 Percent-

The creature leaped into the air, mouth opening in a mad, rage riddled roar

-Weapon Armed-  
-----LOCKED-----

He pulled the trigger.

_A single, long metal spike, shaped like a spear, escaped the barrel with a release of pressurized gas, the white vapor escaping the barrel as the silvery spike did, rotating around itself, heading forward with a target_

The attacking creature was impaled through the mouth, the spear connected at an unimaginable speed and pierced the creature's skull with ease, sticking it to a pillar as a length of the spear was showing through its mouth.

-Tracking New Target-  
--------LOCKED--------

He fired again, the creature tried to leap away from the attack, but screeched in horrible pain as the spike penetrated through its spine and exited through its rear end, permanently imbedding it to the ground. The rest of the things growled with anger and quickened their pace, but Echo-Two was already tracking another, firing a third spike and impaling the monstrosity through the top of its exposed brain, directly to the ground

Two of them leaped into the air, aiming to kill, roaring with burning rage. The first was quickly impaled through the stomach and plastered against one of the pillars while the other was suddenly blown back by an invisible force onto the same pillar, its body rattled as blood suddenly began sprouting from many holes across its midsection that appeared in synchronization with Echo-Three's gunfire.

"Let's go!"

It was Echo-Two who yelled. Carrying the large weight of the weapon was no easy task, and they could not stay there forever and slaughter those creatures. None of them needed a reminder of the mission ahead of them, and the high priority of its accomplishment.

The two soldiers took off, running as fast as they could, given the weight on one of their backs, neglecting the remaining three creatures which were still in hot pursuit, or so it seemed, as Echo-Tree withdrew a saucer-like object from his vest and dropped it to the ground.

The object, an AT-S Grenade clicked several times as it hit the floor until it suddenly beeped, emitting a blue glow from an LED located in the middle of it. The three creatures ignored the object ahead of them, even though they saw the bright blue glow of the LED. As they got close, the object beeped several times in rapid succession, they have triggered it. Aware of the danger, the three leaped into the air, wishing to dodge the object the same way they dodged the fire from earlier, but to the their surprise, the AT-S Landmine was suddenly at their height. Two pins were fired away from the weapon as it beeped one last time

And went off in a horrible explosion.

(--T--)

"Kaplan, you reading me?"

Rain sighed with annoyance; she's been trying to contact her teammates, and response was nowhere to come. She huffed out and took a second to fix her hair; a stray strand fell to her eyes, still waiting for a response.

"Still nothing?"

Her eyes drifted right; Alice sat there, her body pressed against one of the many large computers in the room. She nodded and took a few steps forward, seating herself next to the woman in red

"Comm. Must be fucked up" She said, throwing her arms forward with frustration. Her mind sunk into thoughts, unaware of the two blue eyes that were so occupied with her, filled with so much interest.

Alice examined the warrior top to bottom; she now knew what the feeling she had earlier, when Rain forced her into the elevator was. It was admiration, pure and simple admiration. Alice only knew her for several hours, and yet, has learned so much about her; never backing down, always on top of things, Rain didn't let out even after J.D died, still pressing forward to lead both her and Matt to safety. But now, the only thing the warrior seemed to have wanted was to rest, she looked tired and worn out, longing for sleep, Alice could relate to that, she wanted the same, the experience they were going through was wearing them out with ease, and Rain seemed to be taking the worst of it.

"How're you feeling?"

She asked softly, her lips barely moving, but it was enough to catch the other girl's attention. Rain tilted her head aside and gave her a tired look with her two blue eyes

"Peachy"

She said and drew a crooked grin. She was dizzy, her stomach was killing her with nausea, and there was a searing sensation coursing through her arms that she just could not stop.

"You look kinda sick"

Oh yeah, good one, Alice. Are you that eager for her to get mad at you? Christ…

"It's just a headache, I'm fine"

Alice decided not to press into the matter any further; Rain was obviously not enjoying the tedious caring for her health. _Naturally_, Alice thought; the girl was probably used to take care of herself in any situation, not used to having someone looking after every breath she took. She smiled and nodded sheepishly, not knowing what to say anymore

Rain sent a worried glance towards the Point Man; he was seated next to one of the many screens that were scattered all over the room, typing frantically on the small black keyboard ahead of him. She looked at him dully for a few seconds, she knew what he was doing, he was trying to find out where were the bombs placed, and by the way and speed he was typing, she assumed he wasn't doing so well.

Her head felt heavy on her shoulder, she needed rest. Eyeing the man one more time, she allowed her eyes to close, giving herself time to rest, at least until Kaplan or someone responds. Her heavy eyelids closed slowly, she felt her head being lighter as a soothing darkness enveloped her and sent her to a deep sleep.

A sudden soft touch snapped her awake within seconds. She looked down and found Alice's pale hand, placed on her leg, just before her knee.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Her voice was elevated, she glared at the girl with narrowed eyes, but Alice merely replied with a smile

"I just wanted to thank you; you were so brave back there, when you rescued me"

With that, her hand glided up her thigh slowly, her fingers caressing the black fabric of Rain's pant leg, along with her soft skin. Rain could feel the red creeping up her face, what the fuck was that crazy girl thinking? Touching her like that?

_And yet…_

She just sat there, her face reddening as Alice's small hand caressed her thigh softly and slowly, the feeling was starting to get her, feeling her body with certain warmth, a soothing sensation that emitted from the point of contact and spread through her body like wildfire.

"I… I don't-" she stammered, but was quickly silenced by Alice's finger, placed atop her two lips

"Shh…"

Alice spoke in a low tone, an almost seductive one. Her lips curved into a grin as her small hand slid off the girl's thigh, still softly stroking her skin above her clothes, and causing her face to redden even further

The touch made her tough expression and stare to soften all of a sudden, caught off guard by it, it hit her beyond all her defenses, sending a sensation she hadn't felt in a long time throughout her system, she opened her lips to speak, but nothing came out.

Alice's hand did not move from its place as the girl in red got closer and closer to Rain. She looked at her with her big blue eyes, seemingly enjoying the new expression drawn on the girl's face, she brought her face even closer to the other girl's and whispered in her ear softly

"Thank you"

They kissed.

(---------X----------)

HA! Told you there was gonna be a surprise, didn't I? Well, what did you guys think? Was it worth the waiting? I sure hope it did!

A question to everyone in general and to Lunatic Pandora1 specifically: Did you enjoy the vision sequence, did you get a F.E.A.R-ish feeling from it? I worked very hard to try and make one. Give me your opinion, and tell me whether you want me to write another one, I'd really appreciate that!

Well, that's it for this week, be sure to check back for my next chapter release!

Remember to review! Cuz it really matters, ya'know.


	16. Entry Two: Under the Surface

Man, sorry about keeping you waiting guys, I noticed someone took himself off my favorite list, I can understand that, seeing as I wasn't publishing anything. I'll tell you now that this chapter isn't too great. I'm starting to experience with horror writing more than with action, this is my first chapter doing that, this is why it's a bit shorter than what I usually deliver. I am also sorry about the long wait, I simply didn't have any idea as what to write. Anyway, enjoy another chapter!

Disclaimer: Yea yeah, I don't own RE or F.E.A.R.

(-----V-----)

Interval Five: Different Paths  
Entry Two: Under the Surface

Thermal Units Status: Priming. Time Remaining: 63 Minutes

A snapping sound, a quick and dull one, muffled by two fingers, went through the room as the two fingers quickly rolled the hard circular stone with a powerful pull. A few sparks shot out to the open air, their orange light differed from the blue light setting of the room, but was quickly consumed by a huge red flame that exploded from under it, shining in the blue emergency lights in the room.

The fire remained steady, held tightly inside a steel cage of sorts, shining upon it with its orange light and spreading a soft aura of heat around it. A roll of white paper, containing a large quantity of brown flakes of some sort, was pushed into the way of the flame and quickly enough, was lit up; the brown flakes were colored in a bright orange for a moment then turned black.

He screwed the roll between his two lips and took a few quick inhales, to make sure the fire stuck. The fire licked away at the paper and flakes, coloring them in a mixture of black, grey and white. He pulled the roll out of his mouth and breathed out a long cloud of grey smoke that spread around the room quickly, rising up to the ceiling and dissipating as soon as it did.

_Even better than sex…_

He took another drag off his cigarette, stuffing his lighter back into his vest, where it belonged. It was lucky of him to have found an almost empty canister of Lighter Fluid in one of his vest's pockets. He half smiled as he inhaled the searing hot smoke down his throat and to his lungs, sucking down on Death as it rushed down his windpipe and into his body, contaminating it with poisonous chemicals and toxins

_Heh, die bitch, die._

Blowing the smoke out, the man closed his eyes and smiled inwardly, letting it flutter away from him, dispersing into the air of the room, tainting it with its grey imperfection. He wasn't much of a smoker while he served in Delta Force, hell; they weren't even allowed to smoke as to not damage their physical fitness. He only began smoking when he joined F.E.A.R, there it was allowed. It was his way of getting back at his body, of getting mad at his lungs for daring to get cancer. Fucking cancer…

Christian 'Blind-Slinger' Wesson took another drag off his cigarette and blew the smoke out in one short stream, not even caring for it. He looked around him; members of both teams were huddled together, making plans, trying to comfort each other, whispering in the dim blue light and silence, as if they were afraid someone was going to hear them. But they knew just as well as he did that there was no one else in there, they were all alone

All but one.

_"Can you do it in five?"_

_"I can make it in three"_

_He stared directly into his chocolate brown eyes. There wasn't anything different about them, not a single hint of a lie, or deception. He gave him an approving nod, turned and left the room, along with the rest of the Sigma team._

Sling shook his head and sighed out with frustration, the hot air leaving his mouth with a dignified amount of smoke. His mind slurred with cuss words, hate and rage, but he kept them in check for as much as he could, containing those emotions within him, wishing to lash them out through the barrels of his AT-14's at one of those creatures in the lower floors; they didn't prove to be so hard to kill once you knew where to aim.

He breathed smoke into his lungs again, practically feeling it fill up his chest cavity, making clots of black substance inside, cutting off his oxygen supply, destroying cells within his lungs and altering others, causing mutations, abnormalities

Cancer.

But neither of those mattered. He was already dead to begin with.

_"Go, go, go!"_

_A group of ten shadows swooped in to the building through a blown-out door and a heavy smokescreen. The outlines of long weapons were clear in their hands, marks of green and black on their uniforms and a unit patch, shaped as a triangle sewn to their shoulders_

_Delta force._

_They moved as a unified group, thick black rubber gas masks covering their faces, M-4 Colt Commandos in their hands, their black army boots treading across the cement flooring as they headed deeper into the facility. Meanwhile, there was no resistance, no hostiles. He breathed with ease, the least noisy this operation would be, the better._

_The mission took place in some abandoned bomb factory in Pakistan. Intel said some Al-Quida terrorists were using the place to make dirty bombs; conventional weapons tipped with radioactive matter. Heavy fallout, huge number of casualties, just the way Osama likes it._

_"Allah!!"_

_He was caught off guard, too deep into his own thoughts to survey his surroundings, completely surprised by the two men in white clothes and AK-47's which jumped him from opposing sides of the hallway. Luckily, gunfire echoed from behind him, and the two men went down, not a single shot fired from their weapons._

_"Looks like Intel was right gents" said the team leader, identified by a red banner on his right arm. His voice deep and masculine._

_"Fan out according to your teams. Seek and destroy"_

_"Sir!" they all replied in unison and scattered in groups of two. He was also about to leave when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder and grabbed hold._

_"Don't you let this happen again, Chris. Am I clear?"_

_"Sir!"_

_He nodded and went on, climbing a nearby ladder, alone. The team's leader deserved two escorts, meaning one soldier had to fly solo. Meaning, him. _

_He arrived into a rusty metal catwalk, supported by steel cables from both sides, large tanks on both sides; the flow of some liquid was clearly heard inside of them. He allowed his training to lead him in, his senses sharper than ever, eyes staring ahead, scanning with anticipation. Ears wide open, listening to the slightest of noises. Prepared for anything that could happen._

_"Hey!"_

_He looked down and saw another one of those men, he was reaching for his weapon as well, an American M-16A1, but he was faster; a quick squeeze of the trigger and a hail of bullets shredded through the catwalk and into the man's body. Killing him in an instant._

_But as he fell back to his eternal rest, his gun gave out a long burst of bullets that collided against one of the tanks beside him, the latter exploding with no sound, covering him with a liquid so hot, so smoldering that he could feel it seeping into his flesh, burning away his skin. _

_He collapsed to the floor in an instant, he could stand, sit or speak. His body caved in like a frail house of cards as screams of horrible agony escaped from his mouth, his weapon and training both forsaken as a result of the horrible pain he was going through. His last memory, before everything faded into black, was the sound of footsteps across the metal catwalk, of the shape of a human standing next to him, bending down to inspect him, and of the scream, the scream that no soldier alive wants to hear._

_"MEDIC!!!"_

_The helicopter ride back to base was but a story to him, told by some of his squad mates, Mahoney and Jones, he guessed. They tried to stabilize his condition, injecting him with all kinds of things, attaching and detaching IV's every once in a while, cutting his uniform away for an examination and then covering him with a thin blanket that seemed potent in keeping his body warm. He didn't feel cold, nor did he feel hot. _

_All he could feel was pain._

_Later on, when he was taken to one of the army's hospitals back in the states, they treated and tested him with real, Hi-Tech equipment, not field examinations. He was fully aware by them, no longer sedated or passed out. Even the pain went away to some extent. He was kept in a room of his own, far away from all the other patients, the doctors told him it was because he's a member of a Special Forces unit, to assure he wouldn't leak information, but there was something strange about the room; no one ever came to visit him, the walls and doors seemed thicker than normal hospital requirements, and whenever anyone came to check up on him, they always wore Biohazard suits, it bothered him. After all, he was just burnt, he wasn't infectious or anything_

_Was he?_

"Exposure to an extremely radioactive isotope at a liquid state in high concentration…"

He repeated those words silently, away from ear-range of anyone around him. Most of them already knew; members of his team, to be exact. But the Umbrella Black Ops didn't, and he was intent on keeping it that way; there were so many tumors inside his body his lifespan was shortened by more than a half. He was to die at the age of twenty-nine, thirty if he's lucky. Docs' tried to offer him with Chemotherapy, Radiation Bombardments to kill the tumors inside his body, but he refused it all; his body was banged up enough as it was, and if anyone was to bang it up further, it would be him.

His discharge from Delta Force came even quicker than the one at the hospital. Apparently being a walking nuclear meltdown deprives you of your physical shape and denies your service in a Special Forces unit. He tried arguing at first; sending letters, making calls, screaming his head off at Generals and Commanders, but his cries fell on deaf ears. He started smoking as soon as he was discharged from the hospital, claiming that the lung cancer he'd get would kill all the others.

Blowing another cloud of smoke through his lips, the gunman's ears picked up a silent whimper from behind him as a soft voice cried silent, muffled cries. He looked back and saw Tai, Tyler, her head was buried into Maya's chest, the latter was running her fingers softly through the girl's hair while still keeping up conversation with 'One' who was adjusting the bandages on his hands then and now. He could feel a lump in his throat as soon as his eyes locked onto the young girl; she was taking Spooks' death harder than anyone else, quipped with neither the tools or training to handle such an emotional burden in her age. He has killed many during his service, and lost more than a few, his skin was hard enough to take on another blow and Maya belonged to one of the best Deep Insertion units in the world, trained to keep on going no matter what. Tyler had nothing on her side, except for Maya.

Seeing the young girl like that, was just not right. No, it was beyond that

It was just plain fucked up.

"This is bullshit…"

Someone spoke to his left, catching his attention. The voice was silent, apparently he was not supposed to have heard that. Still, the gunman turned his head aside to meet the figure of one of the Commandos; short black hair, deep dark eyes and a worried look on his face. He recognized the man in an instant; the Crimsons' medic, Ben Kaplan.

"How're you holdin' out, Ben?" he asked, trying to sound as nice as he could.

Kaplan turned towards him and nodded to himself, agreeing on some unnamed topic inside of his mind.

"Could've been better, I guess" he replied, his voice sounded dark, distant. Sling knew that voice, it was depression. There were a few seconds between the two men until he spoke again

"By the way, it's Kaplan"

Sling half-smiled at the comment; at least the man had some identity of his own, it told him that he was not completely sunk under the sea of depression. About to take another drag off his cigarette, he heard Kaplan's voice again.

"Can I…?"

His eyes tracked the medic's finger to see it pointing at his cigarette. He quickly reached into his vest and pulled out a fresh one, handing it to the man, along with his refilled lighter

"You smoke?" he asked with curiosity as the man screwed the white roll into his mouth

"Couldn't hurt to start"

Kaplan replied and fumbled with the lighter, until he eventually managed to light up a fire, along with his cigarette, taking a short drag and launching a fit of painful sounding coughs.

"First step is always the hardest" the gunman said "Are you sure you want to take a second?"

"Not that sure" He replied and took another one, blowing smoke out shortly after "Here, take it"

He handed him the cigarette and rested his head on his own open hand, sinking into thoughts while the gunman beside him simply picked off from the point where Kaplan stopped and stuffed the cigarette between his lips.

Across the room, the trio of 'One', Maya and Tyler sat, well, 'One and Maya were sitting while Tyler's small body was in Maya's lap. The young girl's head was buried into the older warrior's chest, her breathing was regular now, no longer rhythmic bursts of whimpers, _she must've cried herself to sleep_, thought Maya, who was still running her long fingers through the girl's hair, and her head was filled with thoughts; thoughts of the gunfight they had earlier, thoughts of Spooks…

Her eyes drifted to the other side of the room, to Christian. He wasn't doing anything special, he almost seemed natural, sitting cross legged on the cold floor, the Crimsons medic next to him, there was a cigarette in his mouth, and he handed it to her teammate.

"We have to consider our options"

A deep man's voice shot her back into reality. She looked ahead, into 'One's steely gaze; he seemed deep into thought, running his bandaged hand over his chin, she could only guess how many scenarios were going through his mind at that point, how the odds, pros and cons were calculated for each step they took.

"The Hive's defenses are planned to make it impossible to escape from, so far, they've succeeded; each maze we faced caused at least a casualty of sorts, maybe more. We also have to take our ammo as a factor; those things, those 'Bio-weapons' can withstand some serious punishment before going down, my team isn't equipped with enough firepower to engage them"

"A single shot to the head kills them, they're slow, so aiming is easy" the girl interrupted "But it's those traps I'm worried about; we have the building's blueprints, we can plot an escape route with ease, but every step can cause those bombs to go off, it's too much of a risk to just dash off to freedom"

"Exactly" 'One' replied, nodding. He was about to make another remark when his communicator went off, the voice was static, yet stable, holding through waves of interference.

"_Crimson Skulls Commander, 'One', this is Sigma One. I've managed to get the A.I core online, awaiting instructions, over_"

(--T--)

"_Sigma, good to hear from you_" the manly, commanding voice of 'One' filled his ear. He adjusted the earpiece to fit better.

"_How are my girls doing?_"

He looked back through the darkness until his eyes met them both, huddled into each other in a mixture of red and black fabric were Alice and Rain

The two girls were resting, well, at least Rain was; the dark haired warrior's head was resting on Alice's shoulder, her eyes closed and her mind sunk into a deep sleep. Alice, on the other hand, was still awake, stroking Rain's hair, sometimes her ponytail too. She was wide awake, but her entire attention was devoted to Rain, she didn't look injured, or sick, or anything, just worried, worried sick for the dark haired woman resting beside her.

"They're doing fine, sir. Rain's taking a nap and Alice is watching over her"

"_Were there any hostiles in your way?_"

He bit his lip. Should he tell him about the hallucination? Either Alice or Rain would surely do that sooner or later, he might as well get it over with- But what if they don't? Would he risk blowing open Pandora's Box? He couldn't tell, at least not for now.

"No sir, business as usual down here"

"_I was hoping you'll say that_" Good, he didn't suspect a thing "_I need you to get the locations for me, Sigma, can you do that?_"

"I can try"

He got to work; sitting in front of the large screen that displayed various objects with a three dimensional blue background. Sigma One cracked his knuckles and started typing, following easy menus with his eyes.

_THE HIVE  
__**MAIN**__HELP_

_MAIN  
COMM.__ELECTRO__WATER  
GAS__SUPPLY__MONITORS  
SHIP__TRAIN__**SECURITY**__R&D_

_SECURITY  
TRACKING__MONITORING__SURVEILLANCE  
__**INTERNAL/EXTERNAL DEF**__BACK_

_INT/EXT DEFENSE_

_LEVEL 5 SYSTEM  
M-60  
M-60+GL  
LEVEL 6 SYSTEM  
__**INC. DEVICES  
**__SPECTRE (N/A)  
BACK_

_THERMAL ERADICATION UNIT Mk. IV  
STATUS: PRIMING  
TIME REMAINING 60 MIN 12 SEC  
__**DISARM  
**__REARM  
MONITOR  
BACK__****_

ERROR: DISARM  
_the Process could not be completed due to a system error  
__**BACK**_

_THERMAL ERADICATION UNIT Mk. IV  
STATUS: PRIMING  
TIME REMAINING 60 MIN 09 SEC  
DISARM  
REARM  
__**MONITOR**__  
BACK_

He looked onto the three monitors, portraying the locations of the three bombs, viewed as huge metallic rolls, standing upright in dark places. He wrote the numbers depicted on the security cameras that were viewing the bombs with a dark pen, then backed up to the main menu and clicked on Monitors.

He was able to locate the three bombs fairly quickly; comparing the security camera's serial number to the one on the locations map was a fairly easy task. It wasn't long before he got the locations of the three bombs written on the inside of his gloved hand.

"I think I'm onto it…"

(--T--)

Their lips joined again, brushing against each other gently, their bodies fused into one; hands stroking, nails giving brief scratches to exposed skin, eyes closed, nostrils filled with that smell, that perfect scent

Her smell

To Rain, this moment was perfect, if she could, she would stay in it forever; she could feel the girl's body so close to hers, the sweet taste of her lips, everything about her was so perfect, flawless; her skin was so white, and soft, as snow, unlike her own, tanned and bruised skin, she wouldn't even dare to look at her arms right now, to see all those horrible marks there, the marks left by those… those _things_.

But she couldn't think about them now, not about them, or about the mission, or J.D, or anything. All she could care for was the feeling; the feeling those ten magical fingers made her feel as they went up and down her back, over her exposed shoulders and arms, it didn't even hurt when they passed on the bite marks, in fact, it felt quite good, moreover that, it felt GREAT!

She quickly discovered that she had become addicted to the touch, to the kiss, she couldn't stop it, even if she wanted, the feeling was perfect, so soothing that every part of her body just wished to make it last longer, slower, more touch, her body craved for the soft fingers to treat it well, to feel every inch of her, to please her, to…

"…Feeding Chamber One, she was almost right, they renamed it; Dining Hall A…"

Her eyes opened slowly, readjusting themselves to the odd blue light settings of the room, it hurt a bit.

Rain stirred her head a bit, tilting it from side to side to get all the cobweb out, some remains of her dream, fantasy, still lingered in her mind, she could practically still taste Alice's lips inside her mouth…

"How're you feeling?"

That voice, that perfect angelic tune, it struck her ears like the chords of a well tuned guitar, or a harp maybe, to suit the angelic tone better. Her eyes tracked the source of the voice to be a little bit above her, to the left, it was then that Rain realized that her head was placed onto the girl's shoulder, and that those soft strokes she was feeling were coming from her actual fingers, she was dreaming this; this was real. This was fucking real!

_Alice was touching her_

"Just fine"

She lied in such a cold manner; no longer dreaming, she got all the familiar pains and aches back at full capacity: the aching arms and legs, the headaches, the dizziness and the nausea

But she wasn't going to say that, not now, not when she's needed, especially not in front of Alice

Alice smiled softly, she fell for it.

"You fell asleep, I didn't want to wake you" She explained with a smile. Rain nodded and broke off contact with the girl in red.

"What's our status?"

Her voice was weaker now, she could feel whatever was coursing through her veins was taking a great toll on her. She got up and walked towards the F.E.A.R Point Man, the latter was seated in front of a computer screen, checking for data displayed over it and transferring it over the communications unit in his ear.

"Hold on" he told the voice on the other side of the channel and then turned to her "Prep for movement, we've got some business to take care of"

She stared at him for a second or two, confused, allowing the words to sink in.

"Move where? What business?"

"One of the Thermal Units, it's nearby" He paused for a second; scanning her with his eyes "Can you go on?"

Rain looked away from him, at Alice; the girl was getting to her feet, she caught Rain's stare and replied with one of her own, this made Rain brake eye contact

"Yeah" she replied simply "When are we moving out?"

"Soon" he told her, still examining the computer screen "How's you ammo?"

Rain detached the long black magazine from her MP-5 with a simple press of a button. Leaving the Sub-Machinegun slung over her shoulder, she pressed hard with both her thumbs on the first bullet in the magazine; the latter replied by sinking down the long container, until eventually getting stuck. 14 rounds left, plus one in the slide…

"One half empty…" she muttered while feeling the slim black magazine containers on her thighs "…And an extra mag"

"And the sidearm?"

"Two mags, 14 rounds in each" she replied without even checking.

"I'm out"

Alice suddenly spoke up from the back. In one smooth motion, Rain pulled out a single small black cartridge from her magazine containers and tossed it towards the girl, who in return, quickly slapped it into her Beretta and cocked it.

"Make that one mag"

He turned around and got back to the mainframe; there was so much information stored in there, so much knowledge that they could use for their benefit, maybe even to get out of there faster, of safer. But he did not have time to inspect it, no; they had to move quickly, to course through those dark corridors as fast as they could

But maybe there was a way…

"Kaplan, there's something I want you and Tie to look at"

On the other side of the channel, Kaplan's voice was not late to come

"_What is it?_"

"Hold on. I'm getting you wireless access"

He detached the Mini-Com on his forearm and connected it to one of the exit ports of the large mainframe, within a few moments, Kaplan had gain wireless access to the Hive's mainframe; whatever he was typing on his Mini-Com, or on Tyler's laptop, appeared as strict commands to the large computer. The Crimsons' medic, along with the young computer specialist, who in time had regained her composure, checked the contents of the new data that was sent to them with obvious interest

"_Data flow confirmed, Sigma One, thank you_"

He did not reply, but instead signed off, motioning the two girls to follow him towards the door, but Rain foresaw that and instead of following him, moved on her own. Both the Point Man and Alice walked safely behind her, granting her first rights to the door.

She stood still by the doorstep, slapping the magazine she pulled out only minutes ago back into its place, waiting for them to arrive. Sigma one stood a bit behind her, she gave him an approving nod. He reached for the control panel beside the door and tapped the OPEN button. There was a silent hissing sound as the two doors opened in opposite directions, allowing the dim light of the corridor to show in.

"C'mon, let's-" Rain never got to finish the sentence

She screamed

"RAIN!!!!"

Alice and the Point Man raced outside the room, everything happened so fast; teeth and arms flashed, the deathly growl, suddenly Rain disappeared, she screamed.

They found her quickly; she was in a close tug to one of them, he was wearing torn civilian clothing, covered in dried blood that covered most of his disfigured face. He bore his teeth towards the female commando, willing to bite, to take his claim of her flesh and blood, but she wouldn't let him. Her arms were blocking his, locked together in an endless tug, whenever he pulled, she pulled harder, and when he pushed, she turned, pushing him away.

"I can't get a clear shot!" Alice shouted, maybe to Rain, maybe to herself, she was getting annoyed with the situation, scared, worried, she couldn't help.

In a split second move, a display of military training versus pure savagery, Rain was able to get an edge; she loosened the thing's grip on her, quickly using it, she pushed it away, maybe just a few inches, but that was all she needed.

The thing gathered itself rather quickly and prepared for another attack. It charged head on, its mouth wide open with rotten teeth dripping blood.

Just to get a mouthful of the MP-5's stock.

Rain slammed the backside of her weapon directly into the thing's mouth. She could feel teeth breaking with the force of the blow, blood shot out as the creature staggered back, spewing blood and saliva from its mouth

But now it was her turn to attack

She went at it, full force, another blow came, she smashed the thing's cheekbone in, it hissed in protest, trying to attack once more, but could not. She struck again, this time smashing the creature's nose in with another powerful blow, but she wouldn't stop.

Rain pressed forward with another blow to its forehead, she sent it back, to the cold wall and attacked again with another blow to its mouth, breaking whatever's left of its teeth. She reeled her body back, threw her arms, winding them, preparing for another attack

The creature rose, it was a disgusting sight; its disfigured and mangled face made gurgling noises, its eyes were covered by detached pieces of flesh. It reached forward

She brought her arms down, giving out a battle cry, her blue eyes wide with rage

_Crrrrrrrrack!_

The sound of the creature's neck, breaking at the blow, filled the ears of the three present. The limp body collapsed to the floor, lifeless once more, resting, so to say, in peace.

Rain stood there, the stock of her MP-5 was still dripping with blood she drew from her latest kill, she quickly wiped it on her pants and readjusted her grip on the gun, slinging it over her shoulder once again. She looked back at Alice and that guy from F.E.A.R; Alice seemed frightened, she could relate to that, it wasn't common of her to display such ferocity in her attacks, she hated melee, it was always dirty, it never ended well, but she had to.

"Well" she said, fixing her breath "Lead on"

He was about to do just that, already passing her and taking a few steps forward, when all of a sudden he froze; standing still, seemingly shocked, as if someone had just shot him. Both Alice and Rain gave the man puzzling stares, Rain's being more on the annoyed side, but he just stood there, for a few seconds, in quiet.

"Don't… Move"

They barely heard him speak, it was so silent, like a whisper. Inside his mask, his mouth ran dry, his eyes wide with horror, fixated on what was in front of him. He dared not moving, or even breathing, he knew that any step he makes could trigger it, he did not want that to happen. Not again.

"Can you see it?"

He asked quietly in his raspy voice. Alice and Rain looked ahead of him; the corridor stretched out, some debris were scattered at random, electric cords shot from the ceiling and were giving off occasional sparks, but nothing too intimindating, defiantly not enough to cause them to halt their movement.

"No" Alice replied "What're we supposed to see?"

He smacked his forehead mentally; of course they can't see it, it's supposed to be a trap, to catch them when they're the least prepared, or ready for such a thing. Maybe they could share the hallucinations, but they couldn't see the portals.

About two feet away from him, was a startling sight; there was an almost flawless horizontal black rift in midair, just standing there, it would almost seem like someone took a knife and simply tore the air, creating a certain black gap right in the middle of it. A gap through which brown grains shot out, sprouting like oil from a freshly drilled well.

"It's a portal" he replied eventually "To another of her visions"

"Another?" Rain interjected, not even past the experiences of the first one "Can we get past it somehow?"

"No" he replied "We have to get past the vision in order to move on, those are the rules, _her_ rules"

His voice was dripping with venom when said that. He hated those visions since the day they started, he could never understand them, even if he tried, and not just to survive them. He knew she would try to hurt them again, she always tries. He could never understand why, what had they done to her, why must she persist on plaguing them with those visions.

"Might as well get this over with" Alice replied, drawing her pistol

"Alright" he said "Just remember the rules; you do not attack, you do not move, we always stay together. Got it?"

The two girls nodded.

"Alright" he said "Get ready"

The deafening sound filled their ears once more, blinding white light struck their eyes, so painful. Alice wondered if it ever gets any easier for him, seeing as he obviously endured this longer than they have. She forced her eyes open, surprisingly, she could see quite well through the white blanket; Rain was standing beside her in the exact way she was before the light came, there was something in her right hand, a necklace of some sort, it was a cross, something was written on it in Spanish, she couldn't make it out, her Spanish was not that good.

She looked ahead, onto the Point Man; he just stood there, weapon at the ready, seeming Unphased by what was going on around him. His featureless face displayed no emotion, not one she could pick up anyway, but she couldn't tell if it was so or not.

The light was beginning to fade, the three were starting to get the details of their surroundings transferred to their eyes, their brains finally able to comprehend them; the walls were brown, wet, damp wood walls with flowery wallpapers that peeled off as a result of humidity. They were torn, and some parts of the walls were broken, revealing cement behind the wooden cover. They were in a lobby of some sort, there was a reception desk in front of them, it was also wet, dirty, its woody parts covered with green mildew and the metal parts rusty. A notebook was sitting on the desk, but it was soaked, the writing destroyed beyond recognition. A lone sigh stood behind the desk, also rusty, hanging on by one of the original four nails that held it into place

RECEPTION

"Where… are we?" Rain asked, her voice shaking a bit

"Not sure" The Point Man replied "I've never been here before"

In the meantime, Alice scooted over to the desk and began searching through the notebook, maybe there's something written there that could use as some hint as to where are they

Or how to get out of there.

She searched the pages, but the writing was destroyed, pages torn or soaked with water, making the writing impossible to read, but she was able to recognize a pattered after two or three pages: writing on one side of the page, a number on the other

"These look like hospital registrations of some sort…" she said while search on, turning pages over and over, until, eventually, she found something, the writing was still hard to read, but she made it out

PARKS, ALICE- - - - - - - - - 906  
OCAMPO, RAIN- - - - - - - - 906  
WADE, BANNON- - - - - - - 906

"Looks like we're already registered" she said eventually "Room 906. But there's a name I don't know here, Bannon Wade"

She turned towards the Point Man

"Is that you?"

"I was never given a name" he told her coldly "But Wade is Alma's last name. This might be a clue, we need to get there"

Rain nodded. There were two doors on the other side of the room, marked WING A and WING B on rusty signs that nearly fell off the rotting wood. She walked up to the one whose sign read WING B and motioned her two teammates to approach

"906 is a pretty high number" she said "I'll bet it's in this one"

Alice nodded "Let's go"

The door was kicked open by Rain's combat boot, the small wooden frame broke off as a result of the sheer force of the kick, the door literally broke in half and was cast onto the floor, along with pieces of the doorframe, spreading a disgusting smell of decomposition through the air.

"My god…"

the sight that was revealed to them was blood chilling; an iron fence in front them was torn open, blood was dripping from the torn pieces of metal. There were two rows of cells behind the fence, each protected by a heavy metal door. There was blood on the floor, splats and drags, as if someone was dragged all through the corridor, bleeding. There were a couple of mattresses cast into the long corridor, also covered by random splats of blood.

Realization struck him like a brick in the face; a chill shot down his spine, he knew damn well where he was, to where he sent the two girls. He gulped hard, but not hard enough for any of them to hear.

"I know where we are" he said. Alice shot him a puzzling stare

"We're in an Ameracham Asylum" he took a breath, the chills were still felt down his spine

"It's where she was kept, while she was a girl"

(----------X----------)

Short, I hope it was able to scare you a little, I sure as hell tried, but next one's gonna be seriously creepy, or at least I'll try to make it one.

Expect my next release pretty damn soon!

Remember to review!

_**  
**_


	17. Entry Three: Dread

Whoa there, some new reviewer joins the fray, something which is indeed commendable. Welcome to the party, Midnight Magic, hope you'll have fun!

As for Tanya Adams 64 and Lunatic Pandora1, it's still good to hear from you guys, means a lot to this author.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Resident Evil or F.E.A.R.

(-----V-----)

Interval Five: Separate Paths.

Entry Three: Dread.

Thermal Units Status: Priming.  
Remaining Time: 59 Minutes.

Location: Unable to determine. System Error Detected.

"It's where she was kept, while she was a girl"

His grim words hung in the stale air like an omen, hovering in the stench of the Ameracham asylum, bearing the knowledge of deaths to come. Alice sent a worried glance towards Rain, who did not register and kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead of them, unable to break visual contact, afraid to do so.

"What…" she almost whispered "What happened here?"

"This is her prison" the Point Man said "She was kept here, hidden from the public, hidden from Ameracham itself, like the rest of the people locked in here"

He cocked his weapon.

"Weapons loaded" he told the two girls "We might come across more traps. This is _her _home turf"

Rain replied with a nod, cocking her MP-5, Alice followed suit.

He gave the two girls one last look, and passed through the bloody hole in the mesh fence.

As soon as he did, he became aware of the air, it has become thicker, almost liquid like, heavy, hard to get in and out of his lungs, he breathed hard, knowing what that feeling meant; A presence.

_Her presence_

His actions became more cautious, cat-like, small, quick motions, constantly looking for traps, or things he could be missing. Alice and Rain also went through the hole and now seemed to be getting the heavy feeling of her presence. Alice placed a hand on her chest and took a deep breath while Rain gave out a sudden cough.

"She here, isn't she?"

Her voice sounded different now, even she could tell, it was as if she was talking through a long pipe, or inside a tunnel, echoes followed her voice for a few seconds until ultimately dissipating.

The Point Man nodded. "Be careful" he said, his raspy voice also echoed "Don't touch anything, don't move anything"

Rain nodded and took a few steps backwards, away from a broken down wooden chair that laid in her way. This whole House on Haunted Hill shit was getting to her way more than it should've-

"RAIN!" Alice screamed. She caught it with her eye

A pair of powerful hands reached for her shoulders through the bars on one of the darkness engulfed cells, turning her to face the bars and slamming her full force against them.

She groaned in a sudden wave of pain, her eyes were forced to look at the prisoner inside the chamber; dressed in a torn and tattered Straight Jacket, his eyes flashed madness as they locked on to her.

"Lock me up!" He screamed at her. His face looked like it's been sliced off with a knife, bloody cuts ran all across it, strings of dry blood hung from the cuts, all across his face "Lock me up, lock me up, LOCK ME UP!"

Rain pulled hard against the madman's grip, he flashed a rotten grin at her, growling in resistance. She slammed his palm into the bars, feeling the fragile bones crack and break. He gave out an agonized roar and released her to topple backwards, off her boots, she tried to remain stable, but could not, even as Alice rushed to grab her.

She collapsed onto the mattress.

_Blood shot from the man's jaw as the thick pole was slammed across it. He spat teeth and blood as he backed away, his bloody hands reaching forward in a vain attempt of self defense, he cried, blood and saliva dripped from his mouth and onto his white clothing._

_The man in front of him, a beast of a man, his body defined only by the shadowy outlines of his shoulders and head, screamed with rage and pushed the pole into the man's chest, forcing him backwards, he collapsed onto the mattress._

_The monster looked onto the man in white clothing with a sinister grin. He raised the pole, wielding it with both hands. Below him, the smaller man in whites begged from him to stop, tears ran from his eyes as he raised his two broken hands in a last ditch effort of defense_

_The brute screamed and brought down the pole. _

_His smile grew even bigger as blood shot out onto his face._

_The cries of the smaller man had died down, but blood ran free, all across the mattress._

Everything went black all of a sudden, she could feel a pair of hands holding onto her shoulders, shaking her hard, it hurt, in the background, Alice was yelling something, she couldn't hear it clearly enough to make out the meaning.

But above all the voices, smells and feelings, something else towered, a hideous, high pitched scream that seem to have come out of nowhere, it was ear shattering, filled with so much terror, the girl's heart was beating faster with every second she heard it. It felt like her insides were about to explode.

She couldn't take it anymore, the chaos, all the disarray inside her head, she was about to vomit.

She forced her eyes open.

Upon opening them, Rain could see that the hands gripping her were Alice's, she was calling out her name loudly and shaking her, as if trying to wake her up.

It was only then that she found the source of the scream.

It was her.

She stopped, panting, her heart was racing inside her chest, it was painful. Alice let go of her and backed away, giving her room to breathe. Rain quickly felt herself, there was no blood, the burning sensation in the middle of her chest was beginning to fade away, the outside world started making sense; there was no man in white, no brute. They were alone again, in the asylum's isle.

It was just a nightmare.

"You okay?" The Point Man asked, gesturing his hand towards her.

She replied with a nod and grabbed his hand, pulling herself up to her feet. Once up, Rain gave a worried look at the bloodied mattress, it looked somewhat innocent, but the screams of the man in white still echoed in her ears.

"It was…" she tried to start a sentence "It almost felt-"

"Real"

He cut her off with his raspy voice

"Alma's powers are much more potent that what you think" he said "Like the ghosts that harmed Alice, so can her other illusions"

He turned towards her suddenly

"And she seems to focus her attention on you"

Rain shot back a stare, not moving an inch from her position, there was a distinct notion of fear in her blue eyes, but in a moment's notice, it vanished. The girl threw her MP-5 into her open hands and shifted her face into an annoyed glare.

"I ain't afraid of her"

She turned around and began marching down the hall, leaving Alice and the Point Man on their own.

"I ain't afraid of nothing"

The two started following her, keeping a safe hearing-distance away from the Commando. Alice bit her lip and looked ahead onto the girl's back; the thermal shirt she was wearing was decorated by a thick line of sweat, running down her spine, all the way to her black pants. Her arms, covered by the many semi-circular bite marks, were gaining a pale shade to them, as opposing to their earlier reddish glow. Rain stumbled a couple of times, losing her stability and hold of the ground for a fraction of a second, but regaining it afterwards, every time it happened, Alice wanted to reach forward and help, but held herself back. She knew what the girl needed.

Distance.

"I turned her into a target"

He whispered beside her, casually throwing the sentence into the air. Alice turned her head towards him, cocking a confused eyebrow

"What do you mean?"

Irrational thoughts ran through her mind; what could he mean? How could he have made Rain into a target? And a target to what? Was it related to Alma?

"Before we launched the mission, she showed me a vision" he started, giving a careful look ahead, to make sure Rain was still beyond hearing range.

"Rain died in that vision, she set out on her own and was killed by those things, but we somehow managed to change that"

He sighed

"And now, she's pissed. There's a side in her that wanted this to happen, but another side that wanted Rain to die. And now this side is going to do whatever it takes to fulfill that goal"

"Wait, hold on"

Alice stopped him, raising her hands. This was way too much for her brain to take in a single gulp. Sides? What sides, of what? What was he talking about?

"What do you mean sides?"

Up ahead, out of hearing-range, Rain picked up her pace, the annoyed, venomous expression on her face was getting harsher and harsher by the second. She could hear them whispering, bits of whispers, that is. She knew they were talking about her, she knew they were saying she's sick, weak, that she can't go on, that they have to do something about her.

That she's afraid.

Wasn't she?

_Fuck that!_

She shook her head no, losing her balance for a second. Fear was a word she didn't know, or wanted to know. She wasn't afraid of anything, never was, and never will be. She felt her lunch coming up again, killing her pace all at once. She stood still, trying to keep her nausea in check. She filled her mouth with air, and then swallowed it down. It hurt, forcing her to lower her head, but at least the nausea was gone.

_"Rain…"_

Her head perked up suddenly, wide eyes scanned the corridor ahead. Someone called for her, but who? That voice, it sounded so familiar. No, it couldn't be, he's dead. She saw him die!

_"Help me…"_

It was haunting, impossible; she could hear him so clearly, like he was standing next to her, _inside of her_, but could not see him. She looked back at Alice and the Point Man; they both stood still, waiting for her to move, he wasn't there.

_"Hurry"_

She twisted her entire body forward, catching a glimpse of a black figure vanishing behind the turn up ahead. She didn't need anymore reason, she just knew it was him. Without saying anything, she took off, running as fast as her sick body could carry her. She could her rapid footsteps behind her, Alice and the Point Man must've picked up their pace to match with hers.

She rounded the turn, where she saw him disappear. There was another corridor there, darker, smellier. She halted for a second, adjusting her eyes to the darkness, another isle separating two lines of cells that were blocked by full, heavy steel doors with only a small port in them.

A rusty sign hung from one rotten hinge on the ceiling

**Isolation Ward**

Her movement became slower all at once, like she knew the place was dangerous. The grip on her gun tightened, the MP-5 responded by sending a cold sensation up her body, good, at least it was still there. Her big blue eyes narrowed and carefully scanned the contents of the corridor, of the isolation ward; she has seen movies, and read books, it's always the Isolation Ward that holds the spooky ghost or demon, where they lurk for their unsuspecting victim.

With a crooked grin and a shouldered MP-5, Rain began slowly pacing through the moss filled corridor.

_"…Once. I've told you a hundred times!..."_

Her entire body shifted up, the barrel pointing towards the rotting ceiling with drips of water and fungus hanging from it. That voice, she knew _that _voice, but how could she have known? Was she so deeply in her mind? Did she know everything about her?

Was she really going to die?

_"Just where do you think you're going?!"_

The voice thundered again, she twisted left, aiming point blank at a rusty door, her breathing became faster, shallower.

_Thap thap, thap thap _

That noise, footsteps! It came from behind her! _He was there_!

Her fear got the better of her, eliciting a gasp from her lungs. She turned around completely, safety off, her eyes aligned with the iron sights, hand holding tight onto the barrel.

Aiming directly at Alice.

She froze, along with the Point Man by her side, a slight gasp escaped her mouth. Rain looked absolutely terrified; her eyes were wide, her mouth slightly opened, her breathing so fast and shallow.

The gun, still aimed towards her.

It was only a few seconds later, that Rain seemed to have registered who she was aiming at, that her gun was lowered, only then, did Alice dare to move towards her.

"Rain…"

She spoke in a low, soothing voice, trying to calm the girl down and taking a cautious step forward. She seemed out of touch with reality, so distant. So afraid.

"Is everything okay?"

_"She wants to kill you…"_

That voice, the childish voice, _her own _voice, sounded inside her head, mixing inside her mind. Her eyes widened with fear, she backed away, gun held up suddenly.

"S-S-Stay back!"

Her voice was elevated, out of control, she wasn't thinking clearly.

_She was controlling her_

The Point Man reached from behind and grabbed Alice by the hand, pulling her back, she resisted.

_"They betrayed you…_" the voice haunted again

_"They plan to kill you…"_

Rain backed even further, she could feel the cold shooting up her back, stunning her for a panicked second. She looked behind her to see one of the big steel doors, it was opened, and she was leaning against it. Her stare, however, shot forwards quickly enough to see them trying to move forwards, to gain ground on her, to advance…

_Just like those things from before_

She rolled sideways and into the open room.

The last thing Rain could sense before the darkness enveloped her completely was cold, a horrible, horrible freezing sensation that consumed every nerve in her body.

And then the sound of flesh against steel as two hands banged against the fading steel door ahead of her, and the voice, the voice she knew so well, as it called her, sounding so vague, as if across many seas…

(--T--)

"RAIN!!!"

Alice slammed her hands again and again against the cold steel, hurting herself as she did, the cold metal hitting hard against her bones, the loud sound of the clashes echoing all over the long hallway

"RAIN!!!"

She screamed once more, trying to reach, to make contact-

Nothing.

She felt a hand hold onto her shoulder, attempting to shrug it off, she realized he only held tighter. She turned backwards, to face him, fire in her eyes.

"What?"

He pointed upwards, above the steel door, his gloved finger directed her attention to a crumbling layer of paint that was slapped onto the wall, and the three digits, written in a distinctive black, against the hot red paint.

**ROOM 906**

Her eyes widened with panic.

"We were supposed to get here" he said "We were supposed to enter that room, together, to face off whatever's inside there as a team. Alma must've realized that as a group, we could take it down easily"

Alice shook her head in disbelief

"Rain is the weakest between us, mentally speaking" he explained in his raspy voice. "Surely you've noticed that she is sick with something, and whatever it is, it's taking a serious toll on her"

"Her body is too preoccupied with dealing with the disease, her mind is unable to make up enough mental resistance to counter Alma's visions. Basically speaking, she's completely vulnerable to her attacks; you and I- we have some mental resistance, we could use against her, but Rain has nothing"

Alice lowered her head in sorrow, the edges of tears showing in her eyes, she tried blocking them, to push them back, but couldn't. She sniffled, and the first came out, then the second, and the third…

Rain was going to die.

And there was _nothing _she could do about it.

When all of a sudden, it came to her.

"She's got pride" she said, catching his attention. He looked up to her, surprised.

"Rain's been through a lot in her life" Alice explained "And she never broke, no matter what, her pride prevented her from doing so"

The Point Man looked at her, then at his watch, hidden under the edge of his sleeve; the green digits were frozen, not even a second has passed since they entered Alma's vision. _Good_ he thought, at least they were not burning up time while the bombs were still ticking towards their detonation. He looked again from Alice and onto the steel door, his voice was barely audible when he spoke.

"I just hope she has enough…"

(--T--)

A door creaked open.

Rain spun on her heels, facing the inside of the room she gotten herself into, gun at the ready, safety off.

_Just like when she was aiming at Alice_

She couldn't understand why she has done that; Alice was her friend, more than a friend even, she knew she could trust the blonde with her life, to protect her and look out for her. She did that before they left the room, she kept watch at her, while she was sleeping, she looked after her, guarded her from all harms.

Then why was she so afraid of her? Of her and the Point Man?

_The voices!_ She remembered them now, so haunting, terrible whispers on the inside of her mind, torturing her, telling her that her friends were the enemy, that they were plotting to kill her, that they were going to betray her. She swore at herself now, realizing how stupid she was to have believed such nonsense, but while she listened to them, they sounded so real, it was like her own conscious was talking to her in that innocent childish voice.

But they were gone now, and she was wasting time, she had to go back to them.

She turned around again, back to where the large door was, only to find a thick, gray and mossy brick wall standing in her way. Swearing, she felt across it, maybe it was an illusion of sort, she thought, but as her palms traveled across the hard surface, she only realized how real it was.

Reluctantly, she turned around again, to face the inside of the room; the walls were covered by thick white padding, which seemed to tear and rot by now, covered by green and black stains, deep cuts and tears were made onto the white substance, showing its yellow, spongy interior, which was also covered by stripes of moss and erosion.

Dead ahead of her, was a single, half open door, made of rotting wood and rusty metal. Rain grinned; as supernatural and intimidating as this _Alma _was, she wasn't too keen on options.

"Alright Alma, I'll bite" she said and cleared the length of the room in three large steps, heading towards the wooden door.

She swung the door open and stormed in, MP-5 ready, eyes scanning for targets.

Nothing, the room was empty.

Moreover that, it was _the same _room she left.

The same crumbling padding, the same wooden door ahead of her, and the same sharp smell of rot and decomposition that hung in the air.

"Not that good with originality, huh Alma?"

Rain talked to herself again and cleared the distance between her and the crumbling door, this time in smaller, more cautious steps; the thought of Alma trying to force a relaxed sensation onto her and then attacking flashed in her mind, she decided caution wouldn't be such a bad virtue.

She swung the door open and took a step in

Not even noticing the trail of small, bloody footprints left on the white padding behind her.

As she stepped in, she could feel everything change around her; the stinging cold that surrounded her was replaced with a somewhat more relaxing heat, the silence was replaced by the fuss of a busy street, of car horns and engines roaring, of a helicopter's blades, cutting the air somewhere in the distance.

This all seemed familiar to the female commando. Too familiar.

She looked around herself; she was in a living room of sorts, an old T.V set was placed in one of the room's corners, right beside a large window, through which the light entered the room, an early twilight sun filled the house with yellowish-red light. A couch sat in front of the T.V, along with a small wooden rocking chair and a small table, on which sat an old dial-based telephone. A few wooden desks sat inside the room, which lead to a small kitchen, and to two doors, one of which was cracked open, and from which came the noise of loud snoring, and the other, a closed door, with a sign on it.

It read _Rita's Room_ in beautifully decorated letters, and had a drawing of a grey cloud, giving a blissful shower onto a green grass field.

Rain didn't have enough time to ponder about the sign, as a noise to her left alerted her of the main door to the house being unlocked. She hurried and ducked for cover behind one of the desks, hiding herself completely.

She peeked beyond her hiding place to see who came in; it was a young girl, about eight in age, she guessed. The girl had waist long dark brown hair, not collected at all and was wearing a red shirt along with brown pants, both branded with a white insignia that read Lincoln Elementary, and a large black schoolbag was worn on her back.

The girl stepped in cautious steps, as if sneaking into her own house, she tip toed her way across the living room, and headed towards the closed door with the sign

The wooden floor suddenly creaked under the girl's shoes, the loud snoring stopped abruptly.

The sound of someone waking up filled the sudden silence in the house, Rain stared curiously as the young girl turned her head towards the open door with a horrified look on her face, her brown eyes wide with fear, her lips apart and quivering.

It was only then that realization struck Rain; the house, the creaking floor, the furniture, the noise, she knew why it felt so familiar now-

"RITA!!"

The hulk of a man hauled himself out of the room. He was a little taller than her, but much wider. His unshaved face and stained T-shirt both reeked of alcohol, the smell was so hard that even in her hiding place, Rain almost gagged at the disgusting scent.

"When did I tell you to be home, Rita?!"

He yelled at her, the little girl was terrified by the form of the large man in front of her, dressed only in a T-shirt and boxers, a half empty bottle of some liquor hanging in his left hand. He staggered towards her as she spoke, and she backed away, afraid.

"I-I-I'm sorry. Th- The T-Teacher-"

"I don't care!" he yelled again, making her yelp and back even further away from him. Behind her cover, Rain gritted her teeth in rage. She knew what was going to happen next.

She couldn't allow it to happen. Not again.

"Hey!"

She cried and rose from behind her hiding place, her eyes were flaring with rage. The man turned towards her and stared at her with a vacant stare in his eyes.

"You can't…" his words slurred as he staggered towards her, her face quivered with disgust "You won't tell me how to educate my daughter!"

She shouldered her Sub Machinegun aggressively.

"Try me, asshole"

He took a step towards her, the smell was getting even sharper, threatening to turn her stomach upside down. She twisted her lips in a shape of disgust

Her finger squeezed the trigger

And the MP-5 disappeared.

The eyes widened with panic, the mouth ran dry within seconds, and her mind went blank. She raised her head in shock to see the hulk; Harry was his name, inches away from her. He gave her a drunken grin which reeked of alcohol, his glazed eyes locked onto her

And his raised hand came down on her face.

It felt like she was hit by a train. Rain tumbled across the floor, a yelp of pain escaping her lips as soon as the dirty hand made contact with her face. She collected herself, sitting upright, legs thrown forward and looked up; Harry, _her step father_, threw a couch that stood between him and her, and began staggering towards her. Rain looked to the right, at the little girl, Rita, who was standing there, a frightened look in her brown eyes.

"Get into the room!" Rain yelled "Get in and lock the door!"

As Rain got back to the threat ahead of her, she couldn't see how Rita's hair grew darker and longer, covering her face in its dirty darkness, as her features became sharper, her skin becoming whiter and clammy, her clothes sucking into her body and replaced by a filthy red dress…

No, she couldn't see that.

She reached for her thigh holster, trying to grip onto her 9mm Beretta, but found none. Instinctively, her hand shot down to her ankle holster, where another Beretta was supposed to be, but much like the former, it had also vanished. She looked up again; Harry was still making his way towards her, a baseball bat in his hands, _her_ baseball bat, she recognized it by the R and O, carved into the wood.

_That Alma knew everything, wiseass little bitch_

Harry brought the bat down, towards her knee.

She rolled back, across the wooden floor, hearing the bat strike it, she shot up to her feet, collecting an empty glass bottle as she did. Her motion became a swing, as her right arm extended forward, wielding the bottle by its neck, and moving it in a wide arch

Smashing it against the man's temple.

She hated him so much, throughout her entire life. He was her legal guardian after her mother passed away from cancer when she was four, having her sent to him by a court order, a little girl from Puerto Rico, going by the name Rain Ocampo, the name her mother gave her, El Ángel Observado Azul, the blue eyed angel, to Detroit, to live along a drunk shitbag for a father, with no knowledge of the English language. Rain was born with brown eyes, but her mother had told her that her true power lies in her deep blue eyes; she never understood what she meant.

But right now, all that rage, those twelve years of oppression and abuse, beating and cuss words, were lashed through her hand in a single, powerful, defeating blow, as the fragile glass exploded on contact, breaking into pieces that flew everywhere. Harry's face twisted in pain as blood shot out from the point of impact, he didn't fall, like she expected him to, but instead just staggered back, a gashing, bleeding wound at his left temple.

"That's…" he began, his mouth dripping saliva on the floor "That's no way to treat you dad, Rita"

He stood straight now, a spiteful look in his eyes, his lips and yellow teeth creating a shape of a disgusting smile as he shuffled towards her.

Rain stared at him with rage consumed eyes; that blow should've at least brought him down to the floor, maybe pass him out for a second or two, but he just seemed annoyed, and the wound- Her eyes darted there, and were struck by shock, _it wasn't there._

_Not even a scar_

But she was too consumed by her anger to let that bother her- She had collected year of anger and grudge against that man, for everything that he had done to her, how he hurt and humiliated her. He had destroyed her life, and as far as she was concerned, it was good that that blow didn't finish him off. It was way too quick for her.

She cleared the distance from him in a single long step, and finished her motion by sending her forearm to his nose. His head snapped back, his mouth giving a cry of anger and pain.

"My name…"

She delivered a punch to the middle of his face, he backed even further

"Is Rain"

Another punch, he seemed dazzled. She lashed out with her leg and kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, he clamped up, and she grabbed him by the shoulders. She learned that one on the first day she ran from home; a sixteen year-old Latina with a big mouth and serious attitude issues, going up against a gang of Afro-American girls.

"ASSHOLE!"

She pushed his shoulders, and head down, and at the same time, brought her knee up. Collision was instantaneous, blood and teeth broke onto her black pant leg as she gave out a cry filled with so much anger, it could kill by itself.

Rain pushed him away from her, he fell down to the floor with a loud thud noise, not moving at all. She turned away from him, towards the entry door to the house, _that Alma has a thing for doors_; the thought crossed her mind as she approached it and grabbed the handle.

She twisted the knob, without looking back.

The door creaked open slowly

She opened the door to its fullest

And was blown back by a powerful smack

It struck her in the middle of the face, sending streams of electricity throughout her body, paralyzing her as she fell to the cold wooden floor and tried to collect herself. She looked up in shock to see Harry, completely untouched, walking into the small apartment.

She sent a worried look back, to where she left him before she headed to the door; there was no one there. Her gaze returned forward, to the drunken Harry that staggered towards her slowly, his red eyes and rotten breath were all on her, sickening her to no end.

Gathering her strength, Rain sprung to her feet, back into a fighting stance, only to see Harry smile at her in his drunken way. Her eyes narrowed with rage as she clenched her fists and prepared for another round.

It was only then that she realized what he was smiling about;

She was only half of him in size.

Her eyes widened with panic, she could feel her face draining of color, her legs becoming clay, her muscles, so powerful, now as ropey as a child's. She backed away as the giant advanced towards her, his clothes reek of alcohol, his teeth yellow, and his huge arms reaching towards her.

Fear grasped her with each step she took backwards; slowly, she realized what has happened: physically, she was taken back to her eight year old self, weaker, scared, and unable to defend herself. Those thoughts terrified her; her body was beginning to fail, she slipped once or twice, losing her balance as she tried to gather distance from the giant monster in front of her. She could taste her heart inside her mouth, it was pounding so hard inside her chest, and the pulse was felt in her neck, ears, everywhere. She knew it now

She was afraid.

And then he grabbed her.

Two heavy hands grabbed her fragile arms and lifted her up. Helplessly, she began kicking out, lashing forward with her feet, aiming for his crotch, his stomach, anything, but her legs were too short, she couldn't reach.

"Lemme go dad!"

She froze completely as the word escaped her mouth. Dad? She didn't call him dad since she was twelve. What the fuck was happening to her?

He took her towards the kitchen, in slow steps, she tried to break free, but couldn't get away from his vice-like grip, it locked onto her so tightly, digging into her sensitive skin, making tears of pain run across her face.

"You said some bad words, Rita" his drunken voice trailed off in front of her "You know the rules"

Her eyes widened

"No!" she screamed in protest "Not the soap, dad, please!"

Her struggle for freedom now became an all out war; she kicked and bucked and writhed and squirmed, she tried anything to break free from his steely grasp, but it was too strong, she couldn't do anything. She stared with tear riddled eyes as he took her towards the sink and turned on one of the faucets.

"I-I-I'm sorry daddy!"

She cried now, streams of tears were washing her cheeks while the indifferent Harry pored a good dose of liquid dish soap into the now steaming sink of water. Rain could do nothing but to stare in horror as the foam atop of the water was getting higher and higher, much like the white vapor that seeped through it.

Without a word, Harry dunked her head into the boiling concoction

It burnt. It burnt so much. She could feel her skin face burning away while each second seemed to last forever. She opened her mouth to scream, to release the pain, just to have it filled with the boiling liquid, burning her gums, her tongue, everything. She choked on the soapy bubbles as they traveled to her throat, but it didn't bother her, all the wanted to do was to scream.

And she did, unleashing all that pain, all those seconds of torture to the little girl's body she was hosted in with a single, powerful, horrible shriek of pain.

And then, just like that, it ended.

The burning sensation was over, the feeling of his hands on her body, it was all gone. She was surrounded by cold, chilling cold that pierced through her bones, making her shiver.

Rain tried to pull down her arms, to cover her body from the cold that engulfed her.

Just to find out she can't.

She opened her eyes, and they were pierced by a powerful yellow light, a high noon sun. It didn't take long before she was overtaken by the powerful smells of blood, sweat and vomit. She looked below the light, unable to shield her eyes from it; the room was small, dirty, disgusting to be true. She felt so weak, like she never felt before, she couldn't struggle against her bonds, or even move for that matter. Her eyes darted left and right in a vain attempt to find out where she was, when she stumbled up something, tossed across the room.

A desert camouflage army shirt, no insignia on the side, placed on a wooden table to her right. She looked down on herself and found out nothing was protecting her upper body, aside from her dog-tags.

_First Lieutenant Rain Ocampo 6458380_

"No…"

Her voice was almost a whisper; she could almost not hear it herself

"No, not again…"

She looked ahead, right below the light, the fat man, the man that haunted her in her nightmares, in her worst dreams, was there, his fingers on the golden buckle of his belt as his thick lips stretched to a smile.

"NO! NO!!"

She screamed, cried, as he began walking towards her, his fat fingers opening button after button in his pants

NO!! FUCK!!" She screamed again, her voice elevating to a pitched tone

"YOU'RE NOT REAL!" She screamed at him, he seemed unfazed as he moved even closer to her

She tried to spit, but a set of powerful fingers grabbed her mouth, disabling her from moving at all. The fat man approached her, so close; she could smell the sweat off his body, hear his low voice purr in glee as he removed his pants and underwear and took another step forward.

With one powerful jolt, she shook the fingers from her mouth and before he was able to grab her again, she let out one last, wounded, battered and beaten, scream

"ALICE!!!!" the word rolled off naturally, as painful as the fingers grabbed her again. She knew what was going to happen now.

"ALICE!!!!"

(--T--)

"RAIN!!!"

She roared in rage, like a wounded lioness, trying helplessly to defend her cubs from the vicious predator.

Her fists slammed against the hard and cold steel door. She wounded herself, her knuckles were bleeding red, but she didn't mind that, or the pain, or the cold.

She just wanted Rain to be okay.

Prying the door, she tried to push it open, to pull it open, all with no use. She was getting frustrated, angry at the inability to help her friend in trouble; she had to get that door open.

But how?

"It's not gonna open"

Her eyes darted to the right, to the Point Man; he was leaning against the concrete wall, deep into his own thoughts, seemingly detached from the outside world. His head turned towards her, she could see her reflection on the red visor that covered his eyes

She backed away from the door and struck him with a glare

"How can you be so sure?!" her voice was elevated, she was panicked, angry "Maybe if you helped-"

"She made the door impossible to open" he cut her off painfully

"It's her way of torturing us" he explained "All three of us; Rain, with the hell she's going through inside. You, with your inability to help her…"

He took a breath

"And me, knowing I caused this"

Alice froze, her expression changed; her rage distorted expression was overtaken by one of fear, of true, pure dread. She backed away from the door and sat next to him, trying to let it all sink in; she was afraid now, she could not even imagine what kind of hell Rain was going through inside that room, and all for the sick purpose of fucking with her and the Point Man's heads.

"Ocampo is tough" he said eventually, breaking her trance "She'll make it"

She raised her eyes towards him "Do you think so?"

He lowered his head, back to the murky floor

"I hope so"

(--T--)

She opened her eyes, coughing, the sensation still burned down her throat like acid. She tried to determine where she was, but could not; the room, space she was in was pitch black, the only source of light came from nowhere, but it shone a wide circle around her, killing her night vision completely, she couldn't see an inch ahead of the rim of the circle, it made her fear what was lurking outside of it, maybe another trap, another malicious torture by the hands of Alma.

She was afraid. Oh so afraid.

Her teeth were shaking, her entire body, clamped into a fetal position on the cold floor, was shivering like a leaf in the wind. Stripped of her weapons, the burns on her face stung mercilessly, much like her arms, which had sharp pains coursing through them. Rain closed her eyes again; the outside world was too much for her, too big to take in.

Too scary.

Her breath, shivering and rhythmic, changed suddenly into a frightful yelp as a loud noise cut through the room. It was behind her, like a powerful screech of something, being dragged across the floor.

Forcing herself, she dared to look back, almost closing her eyes as she did.

A mirror.

A large mirror, with a beautiful wooden frame was standing behind her, the light was reflecting off the large square of glass; giving Rain a much needed taste of reality in the hell she was in.

She got up, turning around fully, and examined herself in the mirror.

A gasp escaped her mouth.

She looked different, all so different from what she knew; her skin, her beautiful tanned skin was deathly pale. Her black uniform, torn and tattered, stained with dry blood. Gashes ran across her skin, bloody trails heading from them and all across her arms.

But her face, it was her face that frightened her

Her bottom lip was split with a bleeding wound, earning a sickly blue color as well, a long cut ran across her right cheek, her hair was in a wild disarray, and her eyes-

Milky white orbs, with brown pupils, seemingly out of focus, just staring into space, into the emptiness.

Wherever she moved, so did her reflection, whatever she did, so did her mirrored sister do. She reached with a finger to her bottom lip, to where her reflection's lip was split, and touched it. Nothing could have prepared her for the sensation that ran through her body, when she looked at her fingertip

And discovered it to be tarnished by a bloody smear.

Her eyes widened with panic, her arms began to sear with pain, too much for her to bear, she tried blocking it out, tried focusing on something else, anything, but there wasn't

Nothing was real but pain.

Then the voices started. Circling her, talking in whispers that pierced her brain just as the pain dug through her flesh. Tormenting her, driving her insane, she couldn't take it anymore.

She screamed.

(--T--)

They heard her scream from inside, and the door creaked open. None of them through twice as they leaped in, just be taken by the blinding white light and the screeching sound, disorienting as always, sending them back to where they came from, back to the corridor that led outside of the A.I core of the Hive.

Alice immediately reached for Rain.

She was on the floor, huddled into herself, shaking like a leaf. Her weapon held tightly between both her arms. She was whispering, mumbling something to herself, in a voice so quiet that none could hear. She wouldn't move, no matter how Alice tried, nor would she talk to her, no matter how she addressed her.

No, Rain just laid there, shivering, whispering to herself, whispering what the voices told her, over and over again, and it was when Alice got so close to her that she could almost kiss her, that she heard, and understood, and it was then that her blood ran dry, and her skin crawled, and the cold sweat, as cold as ice, covered her entire body.

"_One bite, one scratch, and you become one of them"_

"_One bite, one scratch, and you become one of them"_

"_One bite, one scratch, and you become one of them"_

(----------X----------)

Dear god that was a long one. I hope I still have readers left! Anyway, I'm sorry for the long release time, my computer went suicide on me, and I had to send it to be repaired, which took a very long time, and for which I am sorry.

Did you like it? Was it frightening as I hoped it to be? I sure hope it was, tell me about it in your review, I sure hope you weren't disappointed. And don't worry, the next one will arrive MUCH faster than this, I swear!

Review please!


	18. Entry Four: Hunter and Hunted Pt 1

Guess who's back, back again, Titan's back, tell a friend.

Oh yeah, I'm back, bringing you the beginning of the end for the first of the F.E.A.R no Evil series. I'd like to thank everyone's who has ever reviewed and affected my fic, even by the slightest bit, and hope you enjoy these last few chapters with my favorite characters.

_Disclaimer: I do not own F.E.A.R or Resident Evil, they are registered trademarks of both Sierra and Capcom._

(-----V-----)

Interval Five: Different Paths

Entry Four: The Hunter and the Hunted Part One

Thermal Units Status: Adv. Priming (Secondary Detonators: Armed)  
Time Remaining: 57 Minutes.

"_Oh, my god…_"

His eyebrows, thick and bushy streaks of dark hair were drenched in cold sweat that dripped from his forehead, sliding in shiny stripes into his eyebrows, making them shine under the blue light that came from over his head. The eyes, brown pupils, focused onto the screen in front of him, its light shining in a bright light on his sweaty face, and his mouth, the lower lip hanging low, his lips as dry as the desert itself much like his mouth, and his tongue. His body froze completely, almost shutting down to an unconscious state, but it was the sudden cold that washed him, the stinging chill of sleep that shot him back to reality

Ben Kaplan read the paragraph again; it was a part of the data stream he received from the Point Man only minutes ago. The stream itself contained mostly formulas, and long lists of D.N.A strands and codes, written in big bold letters. But those were no good to him. He could stare at those letters and acid lists for hours, figuring out what they mean would take him hours, and that's time he didn't have.

He had to find written content.

Eventually he was able to find something; a transcript of an audio recording taken during a conference that took place in Umbrella's Research and Development section. The lion's share of the conversation was made by a person identified in the transcript as Isaacs; from what Kaplan read, this Isaacs was running the R&D section, or at least responsible for a vast majority of the projects Umbrella was trying to hide from the public. Another person that took place in the conference was identified only as Wesker. Him, Kaplan knew; Albert Wesker was a big shot in Umbrella's ranks, mostly in the military department. He knew Wesker used to be a part of Umbrella' Special Tactics And Rescue Squads, STARS, and old unit which was supposed to take up all security measures inside the corporation, but was quickly abandoned due to stress and in favor of their UBCS and BlackOps squads. Nowadays, STARS were just the RCPD's backup, like a SWAT force.

But none of this bothered him now; who Wesker, or this Isaacs were, couldn't bother him any less. That paragraph, those few lines, had told him about what was going on inside the Hive than he had learned in all the time he spent there, guarding it from all of the so called 'evil doers'. It was only then that he had realized what was Matt talking about, why did the AUO hate them so much, why were they fighting so fearlessly, outgunned and out trained against trained killers and attack dogs.

"What is it?"

The older F.E.A.R member, Maya, if he recalled correctly, asked. She came up from behind him in a quick motion, startling him enough to make a stressed gasp escape his lips. Kaplan slowly closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh, wiping a surface of cold sweat from his forehead and face; that scare was just what he needed to get his face off the computer's screen, out of the fear-inspired trace he had sunk into and back into reality.

"Those files your CO linked me to" he started, feeling the chill crawl up his spine again

"They contained documentations about whatever's escaped into the Hive, Agent T"

Maya looked at him; from her first impression, Kaplan seemed like a worried person, he's been stressing out and panicking over anything that had occurred since the second they met, she couldn't blame him, however, given the circumstances he and his team were into, she supposed she would've felt and reacted the same, to anything, just like he did.

But right now, the Crimsons' medic looked like he had died a thousand times.

"The T-Virus proves to be a very efficient, effective and _lethal_ Biological Warfare agent" Kaplan read out loud

"While relatively stable at its liquid state, its chemical carrier can quickly alter its state from liquid to gas once the agent was released from its container, however, once introduced to a living host, the carrier will dissipate, allowing the agent to act as a blood transferred illness. Exposure to the Virus leads to a slow but steady degrading of the victim's bodily functions leading to an ultimate death, the time of death fully depends on the victim's current shape and health…"

"This is why the weapon should be deployed onto areas such as enemy Hospitals or wounded concentrations"

Upon hearing those words, Maya's stomach turned, she could practically feel how the color was drained from her face as a freezing chill ran up her spine. Purposely attacking the sick and wounded? Targeting hospitals and concentrations of wounded soldiers and civilians? Were they proposing that weapon, that T-Virus, to the Unites States Military or to some renegade terrorist cell?

"That's sick…" she commented, a tone of disgust clear in her voice. Kaplan looked back and then faced the screen again

"It gets worse" he said with a grim tone "Upon death, the agent's main potential is met; the Virus will initiate a massive boost to cellular growth in muscle tissues and the electric impulses found in the brain, bringing its victim to a state of partial animation. Subjects have shown basic motor functions, no memory or cognitive abilities whatsoever and were compelled by their need for living flesh, this remains as a mystery to us, seeing as the subjects' digestive tracks are not functioning"

Even as he read through it again, chills crossed throughout the medic's body, he shivered at the thought that Umbrella had actually tested the Virus against humans, to see how effectively in works.

"Autopsies conducted on specimen that have been killed via a massive trauma to the cranium have proved that the Virus is found present in the victims' sweat and saliva, leaving a coat of dormant cells on the subjects' skin and teeth. The mere contact of a clean subject's blood with a carrier's skin or teeth would result in an instantaneous infection"

His eyes ran across the last paragraph, saying that in rare cases of extreme exposure to massive amounts of the Virus, unpredictable mutations have occurred, but he decided to keep quiet, feeling that what he said was enough. He looked back to see Maya's brown eyes locked onto him, fixated onto his body, his gaze followed hers, onto his arm, his wrist

To the thin red line.

"Yeah" he said, sighing "I'm infected"

Instantly, the girl backed away from him, becoming even paler than she was before. He could see she almost reached for the large assault rifle on her back, but resisted it on the very last second.

"When…" she stuttered "How?"

"Right before we met you, I guess" he said, sighing again "I was attacked by a large group of them, thought I was lucky to escape with just a scratch" he chuckled bitterly

"Guess I'm not that lucky"

Her eyes softened, but he could see she was still afraid of him, afraid that he would die and become one of those things. Even he was terrified by that thought; he didn't know how long the Virus takes to act, or what are the initial symptoms of the so called 'degrading', he didn't know long would it take him to die, and when he does, how long will it take to become one of them

The mere thought of turning into a mindless creature, bent only on attacking the living beings around him with no knowledge or awareness of its actions, sent a powerful chill up his spine. Kaplan could feel his heart sink as fast as an express elevator.

"And Uh… How're you feeling?" she asked, her tone was shaking. No matter how hard she tried, Kaplan could still see she was afraid of him.

"Surprisingly good, for someone who's about to die" he said and smiled in a crooked way, it almost looked sad.

"The scratch must've been too small to insert a large quantity of the Virus cells into my bloodstream" he continued, Maya gulping his every word "It needs to produce more cells before it gets to shutting my systems down-"

He froze in mid sentence, staring into space. Maya sent a worried look towards him, called his name, but it did nothing, he just continued staring, his eyes growing increasingly wide

_Suddenly the darkness leapt at him, striking with surprise and taking him to the ground, he skidded across the floor from the power of impact, and the creature's claws were dug deeply into his shoulder. He writhed with pain and strained to push the beast off him and onto the floor._

_"It went numb right after the attack" his leader explained to him_

_"…Some strange clotting problem"_

"Oh god" he finally said, sounding like he was about to vomit. He grabbed his comm. Unit off the floor and mounted it on his hear, turning his head towards the shocked Maya, who was by now staring at him, petrified.

"We have no time!"

He was yelling at her, fear was building up inside him like water behind a dam, a dam which could not hold for much longer, as far as he could notice. She snapped out of her shock and focused on him, nodding.

"Wake Tyler up, we'll hack into the bomb's interface from here and disable it"

Having said that, Kaplan reached for his earpiece and turned it on with a simple touch

"'One', come in. 'One', this is Kaplan, come in!"

"'One', please come in…"

"God, damn it"

(--T--)

Maya nodded and approached Tai, nudging her. The younger girl woke up, groggily; she looked at her older friend with a confused expression

"What, Uh…" she stammered, sleep still clear in her voice

"We need your help, little Tai" Maya told her in a soft voice and continued "You gotta help us disable one of those bombs; you won't have to go any-"

"No." the girl said decisively, shaking her head. Maya looked at her, surprised

"Tyler" she tried again "You have to!" she was trying hard to keep her voice in check

"I…" The girl looked her with watery eyes "I can't"

Maya felt her heart pinch, seeing the girl's eyes water up once again. Tyler wasn't a very emotional girl. Other than the occasional laugh, or a friendly smile, she never showed any emotion other than sheer determination. But ever since they stumbled unto that horrible place, that accursed Hive, everything has changed. The girl had seen a lot of things she shouldn't have, and experienced things she never needed to. Maya could see the girl's fragile psyche through her brown eyes, it was threatening to break, to simply snap apart and allow all the stress in the girl's tiny body to lash out and cause her to collapse like a fragile house of cards.

"If I try, I might fail…" she stared at the tips of her combat boots. The wet black leather was shining back at her, and then lit up in a bright spark as a silvery tear struck against it and shattered.

"Then, someone might die, like Spooks did"

Tears rolled off her soft cheeks, one at a time, silvery droplets that met the floor one at a time, breaking into an enormous number of shards, into wet surfaces, into huge lakes of sorrow that filled the young girl's mind.

But a pair of powerful hands that grabbed onto her arms and gave her a strong jolt prevented her from maintaining her pose. Her head bobbed up and down, and she could feel two hands grab the underside of her head and lifting it up.

"Listen" Maya's voice was booming into her ears, it was the only thing she could concentrate on.

"Things like this, they happen. No one means for them to happen, but they do" Tyler locked her eyes with Maya's, feeding off the raw power that flowed through her brown pupils; she could almost feel it streaming through her body, surging through like an arc of electricity.

"But you're a soldier, Tyler" she never called her Tyler, never ever. "And we have a mission to complete. Justice is something we'll deal with later, once we get out of here alive"

A thin smile stretched on Maya's lips as she ran her hand through her hair. Her long fingers drove a soothing sensation through her body.

"You did your best, I know you did" she spoke again. Tyler nodded "A lot of people are gonna be punished for what happened down here, Tai, you just make sure we make it out to tell the tale"

The girl smiled, maybe for the first time since they breached the Hive. Her smile was a hopeful sign to Maya, a sign that meant the girl was still capable of doing her job.

"Alright" Tyler said "I'll do it"

(--T--)

'One' wrinkled his nose; the foul scent was burning his nostrils like wildfire, so disgusting and sharp. He looked back, onto Matt, who was following him closely; he seemed to ignore the smell, or at least he was not showing his resentment to it. The young environmentalist seemed deep into thoughts, distracted from the happenings around him, so distracted in fact, that 'One' assumed that if he would stop, Matt would not notice it until he would run into him, and even so, he would be surprised at the sudden and abrupt stop.

He walked in constant readiness, not even leaving his stance as he took a step forward; his eyes were constantly scanning what was ahead of him, his ears as tense as a tight spring, shaking at the slightest of sounds, his feet were always in the general pattern of a firing stance, ready to assume it in less than a second if he had to, and it was all because of that smell, that damn stench that hovered in the air.

The smell of rot and decomposition.

It was everywhere, spreading through the air like cancer; the foul odor that burnt through his nostrils like bleach and acid, it made him sick, sick with thoughts. Those things, those 'Bioweapons' as Matt referred to them, were slow, but upon melee range they showed agility and strength that was beyond human power. At first, he thought they were moving at random, seeking out targets on their own, but from what he had heard from the rest of his teammates and the F.E.A.R team, they were moving as a horde, using their numerical superiority to match with the teams' firepower and speed.

They were hunting them.

He shook the thought off, peering to his right, he met with Sling, who responded with a nod and shoved another cigarette into his mouth and lit it up., holstering his right hand gun and smoking as the trio kept on their steady pace, heading down the foul and infested corridors of the Hive, towards the bomb they have to neutralize, towards Dining Hall A.

"What's with this smell? It's godamn awful"

He spoke and took another drag off his smoke. He had to break the silence somehow, they were too quiet, too much into themselves, each with his own thought, and it was driving him insane. This wasn't an ordinary mission, they weren't a team and there were no objectives, only one thing counted: survival. He could hear those things in his mind, moving through the walls, on the ceiling, underground, he could hear the endless shuffling and dragging of feet across the ground, hear the silent moans they were making.

"Yeah"

'One' replied, _finally someone spoke!_ He though to himself and added "You'd think they'll have air conditioning or something"

"No AC, no running water, and the room service stink!" the gunman said, talking with the cigarette in his mouth

"I think we should check out"

Matt laughed along with them when they did, but it was a half hearted laugh; he had other things on his mind, things he could afford to forget, or neglect, even at the risk of his demise, she was down there somewhere, and he had to find her

Lisa.

His sister was the reason he came there in the first place, Umbrella were starting a full scale search in their facilities for any spies, or AUO operatives, and Matt knew they were going to start with the Hive, their most secret installation up until now. He swore Lisa to tell him when were they going to start the search, for the other operatives' sake and her own, she sent for him that day, and the AUO began extracting its agents from all Umbrella's reach; holidays, vacations, employees calling in sick, they had it all planned out

All except for the Hive.

Getting out of there was impossible, only at death were employees evacuated from the complex and according to Lisa, there wasn't a shortage in deaths down there; accidents happened left and right, whether with construction work that still took place in some areas, or working accidents with chemicals or some deadly strain or another. But Matt had a plan; he was going to infiltrate the Hive, alone, disguise himself as an employee and pretend to attack the Hive as an act of the AUO, it would be Lisa that'd stop him, and die along with him; they both would be evacuated from the Hive and escape, simple enough.

But the attack changed everything.

Everything went wrong, all so wrong, the Replicas, and the Umbrella Commandos and now F.E.A.R; they all keep saying the same thing:

They say everyone down there died.

He couldn't believe that, he didn't want to or could, his sister cannot be dead, and he didn't allow her to die!

"Looking stressed there, Mattie, everything's okay?"

Sling's words snapped him away from his thoughts, nearly making him stumble and fall. He nodded awkwardly and looked ahead; the corridor they were walking through ended in a T junction there, and one of the arms was actually a staircase, leading upwards. Excellent, according to what his sister had told him, she was working one floor above him, if everything's right, he'd find her there.

"I have to leave" he said suddenly, both men froze and turned towards him.

"What?" 'One' asked him, he seemed utterly confused.

Matt sighed.

"My information about the Hive didn't appear from thin air, I had an insider here, an employee in the Gen-Tec department; Lisa Brownstein, she's my sister"

'One' gave him a hard look.

"And now you want to get her out" he said in a low tone. Matt nodded.

"Look, Matt" 'One started, looking gloomy. Behind him, Sling took another drag off his cigarette.

"When the Replicas attacked, we retaliated; a firefight broke near one of the storage units. Two of my men- Rain and Kaplan, were engaging them, and the virus broke out..." He stopped and closed his eyes, trying to find the most suitable way to describe what happened next.

"…After which, the Red Queen initiated her Lockdown protocol. Sealing off the Hive, even separating office from office and-" he stopped to sigh "And killing every single living being inside the Hive who was in risk of contamination"

"I…" Matt started, looking down on the floor, shaking his head with frustration.

He raised his head suddenly, looking at 'One', eye to eye.

"I don't care"

"I want to see her, even IF she's dead" he said, emphasizing the word, still refusing to believe what 'One' had told him. "I-" he stammered "She deserves her last respects, and YOU!" he pointed his finger at 'One'

"You can't stop me from seeing her!"

'One' said nothing in reply, but his expression remained harsh, his steely eyes burned into the back of Matt's head. The young man was wrong from the get-go, if he wanted to, 'One' could've stopped him, in fact, he could have stopped him in a variety of ways, but the commander remained silent, simply examining his options, choosing his words carefully when he addressed the young environmentalist.

"You're right" he said eventually, surprising both Matt and Sling

"I can't stop you from seeing your sister, although I feel responsible for you. But you must know, I cannot allow your actions to put any of my soldiers at risk, any unneeded second that we spend here is a risk, a risk I cannot take"

He sighed

"If you want to try and find her, you'll have to do it alone, the best I can provide you is a weapon for self defense, but that's it."

His stare became even more intense now; his expression hardening beyond what Matt thought was possible

"We're on a mission to get out of here, and both you and your sister are welcomed to come with us. However, do not expect us to wait for you once we're done. Do you understand?"

Matt's lip curled into a smile, he knew he crossed the line several times in his outburst, and was glad 'One' found the strength to overcome that. He nodded slowly and turned to face the end of the corridor; the T junction.

"Thank you"

He said plainly. Before he could move, Sling tapped him on the shoulder, he turned around to find the gunman gesturing a black Beretta 9mm in one hand, along with an extra clip on the other. Matt mumbled a quick "Thanks" and grabbed the weapon, cocking the hammer and pushing the clip into his pants' pocket as he started running towards the junction, turning up the staircase and disappearing through it.

Behind him, Sling and 'One' exchanged glances, and without a single word, began marching towards the end of the corridor, it was much more quiet now, or at least it felt like it; both men could hear their boots thumping against the floor with such volume it almost sounded like explosions, in the distance, they could hear the sound of machinery working; pistons and gas pressure being released, the air itself was becoming much hotter and humid with each step they took forward, 'One' found it a blessed change from the stinging cold that's been haunting them ever since power-down.

"Do you think he'll make it?"

Sling suddenly spoke up, 'One' glanced at him for a moment, and then looked ahead, to the large entrance ahead of them; it was a large, and door-less doorframe, made from solid steel, it led to a huge, dark space, poorly lit at best, and just rippling with waves of heat and humidity that seemed to emerge from its center. 'One' could also notice white vapor rising from the floor, through a mass of torn pipes, it reminded him deeply of Dining Hall B, he cringed at the thought, hoping that this so-called 'Dining Hall' would pose no risk to them, his team's moral was already as low as it could get, much like his ammunition status, another engagement would bring nothing more than sorrow.

"I can only hope so"

He said dryly, not knowing what to say. He didn't know if they were going to make it out, let alone Matt, going solo against whatever evil that is lurking inside the Hive. They entered the large room and immediately, 'One' became more tensed, after all those years and experience, he had come to a point where he could almost sense danger, and this place was radiating with that feeling, all throughout the large room, something lurked inside, he knew it.

"Stay sharp" He told Sling. The latter nodded, forcefully cocking both his AT-14s.

"We'll move fast, but with caution, just hit the 'Off' switch and get out"

They both began moving, covering each other from time to time, eyes scanning with caution, trying to see into the darkness that engulfed their very being.

"I wouldn't want us to fall into an ambush"

The two men were oblivious though; oblivious that they had already fallen into an ambush, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched ever since they entered the room, with dozens of eyes, inspecting each and every single step and move that they took, examining them, studying them.

Preparing for the attack

The silent killers of Dining hall A were like ghosts; mere shadows that made almost no sound as they clawed their way across the ceiling, they learned and adapted, this prey was much more faster than what they have gotten used to; it fought back, it fought back with vigor and power, and it was able to hurt them deeply, even kill them. Two of them were able to severly harm one of them, and another trio was able to kill pleanty of them, but not before losing one of their own.

The silent killers couldn't take comfort in that, they did not know what did that mean, they felt nothing, driven only by their instincts, the way they were trained to. They lurked and prepared themselves for when the time is perfect and the two animals will have no chance to escape, and that will be the moment to attack.

Yes, it will be.

(--T--)

The Point Man let out a long drawn sigh and addressed the large panel ahead of him once again; disarming the bombs appeared to be as simple as pulling down a lever, but he could not believe that; deep within him, he was sure that Umbrella could not have made it that easy for them, that there had to be a trap of some sort

This time, there wasn't any.

He just finished putting in the final screw that secured the panel to its position, having inspected each and every single wire behind it, to make sure it was not attached to a booby trap of sorts. Once done, he simply addressed a red cover on the panel, flipping it open with his finger; there was a small metal switch inside, set for two modes

**ARM**

**DISARM**

A grin began spreading behind his balaclava as he reached for the switch and grabbed it with three of his fingers and pulled it down. He could hear the sounds of mechanics dying behind the wall in front of him, dropping the small room he was in into utter silence, making the blue timer on the LCD screen ahead of him to freeze, stopping at the exact moment the bomb was disarmed:

55:21:37

Footsteps.

He swerved around, weapon drawn. Nothing, it came from outside. He ran and planted his ear against the sealed door, he could hear them much better now; quick, little steps, skipping, if he dared thinking.

Whatever it was, it wasn't one of those things.

"Alma"

He whispered silently, swinging the door open and bursting out.

"ALMA!"

He screamed now, angry, he couldn't take those teasing hints she was dropping him. Not now, not with so many lives on the line. He burst out of the small room and listened, carefully, trying to measure where was she, and where was she going.

She was going in the opposite direction, away from where he came from.

She was trying to separate him from Alice and Rain.

But he had to chase her, he had to see what she wanted with him, it could be important, critical information that would help them in getting out.

_Or it could be just another trap…_

He looked back at the poorly lit blue corridor, seeing both women in his mind's eye; Rain, lying on the ground, trembling with fear, unbelievable waves of terror that went through her, so powerful that he could in fact feel them. And Alice, kneeling beside her, trying to attend her, to at least make her time easier, without any knowledge or ability.

"I'm sorry"

He spoke silently

And took off down the hall.

Meanwhile, behind him, inside the darkness of the corridor, they both were, so close, almost assimilated together, fused to a single body, both women were on the floor, huddled together, with Alice sitting on the floor, her legs crossed and her head looking down on the woman that is in her lap.

Rain would still not move, locked within a fetal position, Alice considered herself lucky to have been able to get Rain to put her head in her lap. She was shaking, streams of fear were coursing through her, consuming her very being and Alice could see that. Alice reached down to push a stray lock of coal dark hair away from the commando's face, but her head snapped back with a frightened hiss as soon as her hand drew near. Alice pulled her hand back with a surprised stare; _Rain was afraid of her_.

"Rain, it's Alice, I'm your friend, remember?"

She spoke softly, using the sweetest voice she could conjure up, but Rain seemed to not respond, she just remained as she was.

"You-"

Her voice was so silent, trembling; it was as if she was even afraid to speak, afraid of the sound of her own voice

"You were- were trying to h-h-hurt me"

Alice was shocked for a second, she was barely able to make out a single sentence, was she afraid of her?

"Rain" she tried again "You know I'll never hurt you"

There was silence between the two women, awkward and uneasy silence. Alice tried to say something, but Rain beat her to the punch.

"You already tried…" She could hear the girl sniffle "You tried once"

Alice stopped dead in her tracks; she was right, she did try to slap her, when they were back at Dining Hall B, right after-

_Right after J.D died._

"I did" Alice said, it made Rain actually turn towards her, now that the blonde could see the fear in the girl's eyes, she realized just how bad was she hurt, she looked like a terrified animal, barred, taken from her natural habitat, it scared Alice to look into her eyes.

"I did and I'm sorry, Rain" she waited a second and continued "I didn't know what else to do, we had to get away, and you just sat there… just…" she paused, trying to find a word

"Just like… Like now?" Rain finished her sentence, Alice's mind snapped; that's why she is afraid, she was positive she was going to hurt her!

"No" she said decisively "What I tried to do was a mistake, Rain. A mistake I would never repeat" she lowered her head slowly toward Rain's, but she backed away, her breath trembling, her eyes wide, she was still afraid of her.

"The first times I saw you, I felt something, I didn't remember you, but somehow I knew you, deep inside me. I began remembering some time ago, Rain, just as we entered the elevator; my memories of you started coming back…"

She took a deep breath

"Rain, I admired you. You were everything I ever aspired to be when I joined Umbrella; professional, highly trained and fearless. I was a part of Umbrella since I was very young, but you always impressed me, I can't even express how happy I was when they told me your team is the one they were getting to guard the Hive"

Her hand reached forward, towards the girl's face, but in response, Rain's face contorted; her eyes closed and her entire face was locked into an expression of pain, it was as if she could feel Alice actually hurting her

But as her five fingers gently glided over her soft fingers, Rain's face seemed much more relaxed, she opened her eyes as her hand slid across her cheek gently, Alice noticed that and smiled at her, she wasn't trying to fake a smile, nor was she sweetening her expression, it was a true smile of happiness, now that her friend had actually opened her eyes, she knew it took a lot of courage from her, to actually dare and look at the outside world; whatever it was that Alma had done to her, it made her refuse to open her eyes from the first moment that they left the vision, no matter how much Alice implored her, she wouldn't, and now that she did, Alice felt like she had already won over the evil girl.

"I'm scared, Alice"

Rain whispered. Tears were forming at the corner of her eyes, Alice couldn't bear seeing her in her condition; she was beaten and battered, left like a wounded attack dog to lick its own wounds with no one to look after and care for it.

"She showed me" She began, silver drops were running loose down her cheeks "She showed me I was going to turn into one of those things, Alice, she showed me I was going to kill all of you"

"No one else is going to die, Rain" Alice whispered back to her, smiling weakly "We're getting out of here, all of us"

Rain looked at her with her tired eyes, she raised one of her hands and grabbed onto Alice's, their fingers mixing together, the Commando seemed much more relaxed right now, and she allowed herself to lay freely on the cold floor, releasing all her muscles. Nothing bad was going to happen.

Alice was watching over her.

Suddenly she felt it, coursing through her back; it just appeared there, manifesting from thin air, so powerful

Pain.

She curled her back up, it was so powerful that she couldn't breathe, her mouth suddenly opened in a vain gasp for air.

"Rain!"

Above her, Alice panicked; she grabbed onto her shoulders and tried pinning her down against the floor, in fear that she will break her spine.

But Rain was strong enough to push her off and onto the floor in a sudden lashing of her strength.

She rolled on the floor, now supporting herself with bitten arms and hands, her head was facing the floor.

Another gasp for air

And she vomited.

Alice watched in horror as the white and red substance poured from her mouth and onto the floor, covering it with its disgusting form. Rain lowered her head and coughed out some more of the substance while trying to fix her breath. Alice approached her carefully, crawling on all fours towards her

"Rain…?" she asked with hesitation, not knowing what to say.

The commando turned her pale face towards her; her eyes were tearing, strings of the substance still hung from her lower lip, she wiped it off with her hand, just to feel another wet trail wiping against her hand.

She looked at it; Blood

She was bleeding from her nose.

Her eyes rose to Alice, still trying to inspect her, still trying to make out something to say

Rain looked at her with tearing, frightened eyes

"What's happening to me?"

(----------X----------)

A/N: We got shit, lots of shit, and it's approaching the fan at supersonic speeds. Let me tell you folks, when this shit hits the fan, it would not be pleasant. Not one bit.

Remember to review! Means much to me!


	19. Entry Five: Hunter and Hunted Pt 2

Interval Five: Different Paths

Interval Five: Different Paths  
Entry Five: Hunter and Hunted Part Two.

Thermal Units Status: Adv. Priming (Main Fuel Injectors- Engaged)

Time Remaining: 50:00:00

He could feel it now, dripping down his spine, like a river of cold sweat, just pouring down his back, causing all his muscles to tense in a horrible way; his trigger finger was getting itchy, almost squeezing the cold metal by itself with no order from him, his eyes narrowed and his ears almost perked. He knew that feeling from long ago, from years of combat experience and strike operation.

He was being watched.

James 'One' Shade gave a cautious look to his left and right, the barrel of his G36C following the movement of his eyes, left, and right, into the darkness ahead of him, trying to make out whatever he could, trying to spot the enemy, or the monster who was watching him.

A tad behind him, a mere footstep behind him, Chris 'Blind Slinger' Wesson froze; he couldn't get the same feeling that 'One' had, but he noticed something was off; he was moving slower, in a more cautious manner, it was as if he could sense the enemy, sense an ambush, but the gunman couldn't; maybe he missed something? Or was 'One' just a psychic?

"What is it?"

His voice was almost a whisper, in respect, or fear of 'One' and whatever it was that he noticed. The dark skinned man did not reply, but instead removed one hand off his weapon and pointed upwards but as Sling was about to tilt his head up towards the ceiling, he took a powerful elbow to his gut, so powerful in fact, that it made him clamp, his eyes caught a glance of something shining on the dirty and mucky floor

A mirror, when did 'One' have the time to drop it?

He bent down and inspected whatever the tiny piece of glass displayed, his eyes widened; bodies, large bodies, with _claws_ were moving across the ceiling. He looked up to see 'One' kneeling right in front of him

"What the fuck are they?"

Sling was direct, his voice was almost high pitched, it was clear that he was afraid, those enemies weren't target practice, or even human targets. They were animals, animals like he had never seen before. They were monsters.

"I don't know" 'One' started "But they're fast, and intelligent, _very fast_"

The gunman gulped and looked at the mirror again; those things were moving on the ceiling, the god damn _ceiling!_

"How many of them are there?"

"I counted thirty four"

Sling nodded and stuffed a cigarette into his mouth, lighting it up quickly and taking a drag, blowing the smoke into the dark and moist air of Dining Hall A.

"Fucking shit"

He took another drag

"So what's our game plan?"

'One' eyed him while he took the mirror back to his vest. In front of him, the nervous looking gunman took a third drag off his smoke and blew it off. The Crimsons' leader looked ahead; sixty meters forward, and a few turns, according to Kaplan's map, that's where the bomb was.

"For now, we move normally, get them to think they have the upper hand while we do. Once we disarm the weapon, we break for the exit, as fast as you can"

He reached for his pocket and handed the gunman a silver hand grenade.

"UG-73R 'Inferno'. In laymen's terms, a pocket carried Napalm Strike. We throw both of them into the center of the room and give those monsters a little taste of real hell"

Sling nodded and felt the cold and hard surface of the 'Inferno' grenade before stuffing it into his vest and closing his eyes. He inhaled deeply and exhaled a long breath of grayish smoke, opening his eyes and narrowing them, focusing on the features of 'One's face

"Alright"

He got to his feet, gesturing his hand towards 'One' who in turn grabbed it and pulled himself up. Both men looked each other in the eyes. Jade and steel blue met as the dark skinned leader of the Umbrella strike team motioned 'Sling' not to look up, the latter replying with a simple nod.

They both began walking slowly, in the same manner as they entered; marching through the stale air, the only sound in their ears is the thumping of their boots. Sling reached for another drag, it was so silent that both men could actually hear the burning tobacco licking away at the cigarette's outer paper skin. The gunman flung the cigarette back and heard it collide against one of the many containers in the room, the red hot fag breaking away into pieces and vanishing into the fog

_Something moved_

Instincts kicked in, his hands rocketed down to his thigh holsters, to the AT-14s

A hand was placed on his shoulder

"Don't" 'One' whispered harshly "Don't react, not yet"

He bit his lip and loosened his hands.

"They're ambushin' us" the gunman replied "How do you know we'll be able to throw them off?"

'One' stopped cold and turned towards him.

"I don't" he replied simply "I don't know if we'll make it out, or if we'll even be able to throw the shutdown switch off. But bare in mind, we have two more teams out there, and they're both counting on us to do our jobs. Even if we both die here, Sling, at least they'll have an easier way out"

Chris froze for a second; the gears in his head were churning. He could understand why 'One' was the great and admirable leader his team praised him to be; the way he could see the bigger and entire picture, even at the most stressing moments amazed the gunman. He looked at the older man and nodded.

The two parted eyes one more time and kept heading the same way they did; 'One' in the lead and Sling bringing up the rear, drops of cold sweat shining on his skin. He ran a hand through his beard and sighed, bringing a cigarette to his mouth and lighting it up, exhaling his fear away with every breath of grey smoke.

"I've got family on the outside" 'One' suddenly spoke up. Chris raised an eyebrow and muttered

"Uh-huh"

"Two girls, Jenny and Danielle, and my wife Jacky, for them, I'm dead for some time now, ever since I joined the Umbrella Black Ops team"

Sling took a drag off his smoke

"Why are you telling me this?"

When the two stopped, it was next to a dark and grimy wall, on which was the almost spotless control panel for the weapon. 'One' took a deep breath; he has been hiding his injury for too long, whatever virus that creature, that monster was carrying, it got him good. His muscles were burning up with flames of pain shooting up every nerve in his body, his vision was blurry by that time, he could still make out shapes, but his long distance vision was completely gone, he was running a fever, that he could tell by the chills that ran through his body even when the room they were in was hot and humid. He had already accepted the fact when he set out to take the bomb

He was not going to make it.

"You don't look too good"

He strained his head to turn towards the gunman who was standing by the wall, tapping his foot nervously on the floor. He was still afraid, 'One' could see that by his shaky hands and the way his eyes kept jumping from one place to another, always looking for a threat, scanning, like a frightened animal.

"Nothing Kaplan can't cure with a little time…" the leader heaved, lying. Neither Kaplan nor he had an idea what was happening to him.

"Yeah" Chris said plainly and took a step towards the control panel, flipping its large plastic cover and placing his hand on the large red and black lever

"You ready?" he asked;

The cold metal of the lever was sending waves of chilling cold up his exposed fingers and through his entire body. He knew how much power that lever possessed, how much destruction could the weapon attached to it cause if it will be detonated.

He was going to stop it.

"Do it"

'One' heaved again.

Sling looked at the older man's sweating face; whatever hit him, it nailed him good; the man could hardly stand, let alone run through the dark halls and isles of that accursed hall. How the hell did he expect himself to run?

No, he couldn't think these thoughts right now; he had a mission ahead of him, he had to focus.

He pushed the lever down, the mechanism resisted

He pushed harder, it gave in, the metal moved along with his hand, downwards, towards the DISARM tab.

It connected, the two metals clicked hard, hard enough to echo through the silence.

Above them, something roared.

(--T--)

Matt looked cautiously over his shoulder; his eyes narrowed, hand gripping the gun he was given for dear life.

Nothing.

He sighed; the atmosphere of his surroundings was getting to him badly, everything made a noise of some sort, every piece of paper that fluttered or shuffled across the floor, every creak and croak the broken desks and work tables, riddled with so many machinegun bullets made him perk like a cat, just to stare blankly at the dim lights that provided illumination to the floor he was in and sigh with frustration.

He was panicking too easily.

Matt realized now that he was spared the lot of the destruction that went on inside the Hive when he joined up with the Crimsons, he realized now that they have been effectively avoiding the main office and personnel floors and complexes and it was only then that he could realize why; the sheer amount of carnage and gore in the floor he had been made his stomach churn.

Moreover that, he knew this was the floor Lisa was working in.

The floor was divided into both large offices and small cubicles alike, he assumed that minor activities that we not crucial to the Hive's nature were being taken care of in those small cubicles whereas most of the handling of the viral research and development were taken care of in those large offices, where twenty or so people could sit, each by his or hers chrome desk, with a personal computer unit and even a coffee machine, but all of that didn't matter; the pearly white plaster walls of the cubicles were riddled with black holes and splats of blood, glass windows were shattered as both human bodies and high velocity rounds went through them, computers and screens were broken, lying on the floor in heaps of useless plastic and electronics

Sparks flew where a stray bullet cut a power line, Matt turned towards the noise, the gun in hand. He sighed again.

He was panicking too easily.

Lowering his gun and holstering it in the back of his pants, Matt closed his eyes for a second and reopened them; Lisa must've still been here when the attack began and left when all hell broke loose. The sign! He remembered that they both agreed that if something like this happens, if she was forced to run, she would leave him a mark or some indication on her desk or around it, so he will know where to look for her.

First, he had to find her desk.

He made his way deeper into the office complexes, remembering she told him she was working in one of the wide offices and not in a cubical. At the entrance to one of those complexes, he found what seemed to be a makeshift barricade; a mass of tables and chairs thrown together to stop whoever was trying to get from his side to the other, as Matt peered inside the large glass room, it was evident that the barrier didn't do to good; blood was smeared all over the floor and glass walls in dry patches, papers and computers thrown and torn in disarray and chaos

Looking for a way into the complex, Matt couldn't help but to wonder who had set up the barricade, after all, according to 'One', all the people down there were killed when the Red Queen had gone homicidal. This has filled his heart with some hope; hope of people surviving the brutal and vicious assault by their own master, hope of life, a rekindled hope of finding Lisa.

Having circled the complex and finding no way in, Matt sighed in frustration; these walking corpses must be smarter than he thought, or maybe they came through another direction? He shrugged off the thought and headed towards another complex. It was quiet, deathly quiet as he paced slowly on the blood matted floor, his soles making strange squeaky noises as dry blood stuck to them and was torn from the floor, he could hear his breathing blasting through his ears like a loud heavy metal song, his pulse was hammering in his neck, his heart was threatening to explode out of his chest

Matt ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes. If he wanted to get this thing over with, if he wanted to find Lisa, the first thing he would have to do is calm down and he knew that. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, having looked around the destroyed office complex; he took another step, deeper into the slaughterhouse-like office.

He came across an entrance to one of the wider offices and without hesitation, stepped in. This office was rather carnage-free, compared to anything outside; papers and computers were still placed properly and no blood seemed to tarnish any part of the wide office. Matt enjoyed the little pearl of order in all the chaos that had been unleashed upon the Hive and could feel a certain sense of relief as he walked between the rows of tidy desks and chairs.

But there was no time to relax; the clock was running against him, and he had to find Lisa.

As he walked between the desks, he suddenly noticed something; two tickets for the Last Man Standing concert were taped to the corner of one of the computer screen's corners. His mind clicked; he rushed to the screen and ripped both tickets off the screen, examining their back sides, one said L and the other said A, written in large red letters.

_Red capital letters… _He thought _she knew she was in danger_

He sat himself by her desk and began sorting through the large pile of papers that was on it. According to their emergency backup plan, she had to leave a certain indication of her whereabouts. One piece of paper followed another, all filled with nonsense and scientific calculations; he assumed all of these would bring use to someone, somewhere else, but not to him, not now.

A loud thump crashed against his ears

He pushed the swivel chair away from the desk. His heart was racing in his chest, his hand reached for the pistol. He took hold of himself and took aim.

The pale man behind the armored glass banged his head and palms against it once more, oblivious to the fact that he alone could not break it. The sight of the walking corpse was terrifying to Matt; it was so close that he could actually feel the chill of death oozing from the corpse's pale skin. He stared at it, fascinated, scared by it.

Not noticing the figure that rose from the floor, several desks away from him.

He kept his eyes pinned on the man behind the glass, his pulse was racing and his breath was stuck in his throat. His lips tightened around his teeth as he gulped down spit mixed with fear that burned all the way down to his bowels. The man in front of him simply planted his hands on the glass again, gnawing hungrily at it.

Matt could not look away from the man, even when he could hear the distant sound of footsteps in the back of his mind. He knowingly ignored them, assuming they were just a figment of his imagination. After all, he already scanned the room and found nothing.

It was when the man finally gave up on his failed attempts to attack Matt and moved on in his path, that the young environmentalist decided to turn towards the source of the noise. As his eyes met with the figure, his mind simply froze; all the color was drained from his face in a second or two, his jaw hung loose, his limbs felt week.

There she was-

"Lisa?"

He got up from the swivel chair and took a step towards her.

"Are- Are you okay?"

She looked so afraid; her eyes were wide, her mouth half opened, her lovely brown hair, which she usually kept tamed, was in complete disarray, her movement was so slow, he could hear her groaning with every step she took, she was in pain.

"It's gonna be okay, sis"

He took another step towards her and reached out to wrap his arm around her for support, the pistol he once held was now placed on the table, at arm's reach. She looked so weak he thought she was about to faint.

Then she attacked him.

She moved so quickly he was caught off guard and was tackled to the ground, her lips parted to reveal two rows of yellow teeth and rancid breath that snarled at him as she tried bringing her head into contact with his body. He tried rolling aside, to break her grip on him, but she was stronger; her scrawny arms were much more muscular than he credited them for

Matt struggled hard against the creature he once called a sister; he used both his hands to fend her mouth off, he knew very well what would happen if she bit him, he remembered what Rain was going through. His teeth clenched at the sheer effort of fending her off, his entire body was tensed and his arms and legs aching from the sudden strain. Lisa snarled at him and charged again, her teeth bare and a hungry look in her milky eyes.

He pushed hard, but could feel his arms weakening, whereas Lisa just pressed harder. Millimeter by millimeter, she was gaining on him, and soon she will be able to make contact with his flesh.

He was going to be eaten alive

_By his own sister_

The longer the struggle lasted, the weaker Matt's arms have gotten, he was staining every fiber of his burning muscle tissue to create some distance between him and her teeth, just enough maneuvering space to allow him to reach for his pistol.

_Could you kill her? Kill Lisa? What would mom think?_

No, he could not think about these things now, he had no time to question himself, or he would die. Using every last ounce of his arms' strength, Matt was able to push Lisa far enough for him to put both his legs between them.

He kicked hard with his legs, lashing against her body, kicking her away from him. He used those seconds and jumped back to his feet, grabbing the Beretta off the table and taking aim the walking corpse. He aligned the black barrel with her forehead, which became bigger with every step she took towards him, tears washed his eyes, his soul was being torn apart, how could he do it? How could he shoot his sister?

The gun in his hand was shaking so hard, his hands were shaking.

Sweat covered his entire body, tears ran from his eyes

He knew he had to do it. He had to pull the trigger.

He had to kill Lisa

His sister.

He closed his eyes, his lips were quivering. His finger, shaking so, began pulling back on the trigger. He had to get it over with, he had to survive. He had to shoot Lisa.

"I'm sorry, Lisa"

He said between quivers of sorrow.

A loud gunshot rang through the air. Lisa screeched with agony as her lifeless body collapsed to the ground. A warm, wet liquid covered Matt's face, he knew it; Blood.

Matt lowered the gun slowly; his eyes were still closed, he was too afraid to open them, too afraid to face the reality of what he had done. He couldn't live with himself.

_I killed Lisa… I killed my sister_.

Every excuse that he done it to preserve himself, to survive, could not persuade him, he still felt like a murderer. He could not stand living in the skin that covered him.

With tearing eyes, he stuffed the short black barrel of his pistol into his mouth.

_Just wait for me at the other side, sis. We'll meet there soon…_

He began pulling down the trigger, feeling his own death reaching for him, to grab and take him to wherever Lisa went…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you"

The deep voice startled him. He pulled the gun out of his mouth and aimed it at the direction of the voice, towards the shadowed figure at the other side of the office.

"Who are you?!"

Matt demanded, tears still ran from his eyes, the thought of what he had done did not leave him. He just wanted that man to go away so he can get it over with.

In reply, the man walked deeper into the office and pulled the pump on the large black shotgun in his hands.

"I'm the man who killed that girl"

(--T--)

"KAPLAN, LEFT!"

Maya's scream made the medic tilt his body in the said direction, the sights of his Desert Eagle met with the head of an incoming man wearing a dirty lab coat. He pulled the silver trigger without a single thought and unleashed a high caliber round directly into the man's cranium, blowing his brains out.

Another man came, followed by two women, Kaplan aimed and fired off a volley of shots, each meeting their destined target. He mentally swore at his lack of thought; he had to lead the two girls towards the train station to disable another of the accursed bombs, but as they settled in and began unlocking the defusing codes for the main detonators, he discovered they were watched by a horde of those things. It didn't take long before the human mass attacked them, from all direction, so while Tyler was busy disabling the main warhead, Kaplan and Maya were protecting her, gunning down one walking corpse after another.

Maya fired off another burst into the crowd, mowing down two or three of them, she pivoted to the right and fired again, and when she returned her gaze ahead, she found five of them a bit too close for comfort. She gunned down the first two, about to fire at the third, she pulled the trigger, but no bullet was fired.

"Shit, I'm jammed!"

She yelled and reached for her thigh holster for her FN pistol, about to pull it out, she suddenly felt the heavy weight of a man being thrown upon her, she managed to get her eyes up just as the plump man in brown suit tackled her to the ground.

He was much stronger than she thought, his jaws clamped in front of her face like a jagged bear-trap, his rancid breath filled her mouth and nose.

"Kap- AAH!"

She could not withstand the attack anymore, the man was able to slip between her hands and sink his mouth into her shoulder; his teeth punching through her thick clothing.

"Mai!"

Kaplan turned and was about to fire, but Tyler beat him to the punch, putting a bullet in the man's head, and emptying the remains of her clip at the remaining horde, dropping many of them to the cold floor. Maya got up and with Kaplan's assistance, finished off the remains.

The room, which up until now was filled with the sounds of screaming, gunshots and the moaning and groaning of the living dead was suddenly silent, the turn happened so suddenly it actually scared the veteran medic.

"I was bitten"

Her voice penetrated the silence like an armor piercing round.

Maya tore off her combat vest and tactical armor, revealing the fleshy part between her shoulder bone and her neck; her tanned skin was red with blood, and the flesh showed deep puncture wounds of teeth, human teeth.

Tyler looked up at her friend, neglecting the computer screen for a second, right now, it did not matter, the program was automated, and the bomb will be disarmed in a matter of minutes, what concerned her now was her friend; Mai's pale face was contorted into an expression of sheer terror

"I'm gonna die…" she mumbled "I'm gonna die and become one of them"

Kaplan rushed towards her and supported her; the girl looked like she was about to faint. He seated her on the cold floor and sat beside her.

"We don't know that for sure" he said "Those transcripts were uploaded two months ago, there might be an antidote somewhere down here, there might be a way"

She leveled her eyes with his

"Even if that's the case, I won't have you going down there again…"

Tyler looked at her with tearing eyes

"Wh-" she began sobbing "What're you talking about? We have to do it, even for the slightest chance, we have to!"

Maya smiled, and reached out to stroke her teammate's wet cheek

"This place contains nothing but death. And going down there will only get more of you hurt. I'm sacrificing myself for the better good. It's my duty as a warrior"

Tyler looked at her with tears in her eyes, she pulled on her nose

"If there's a chance… If there's an antidote" she looked at her computer screen, the program was finished. "And if I can find exactly where it is, will you go there?"

She grabbed onto the older woman's pant leg and pulled hard

"Will you?!"

"I…"

Maya paused, already in her mind she could hear the steady rattle of machinegun fire and of her friends screaming, she could smell the disgusting scent of drawn blood and decay. She knew what would such a mission cause, she knew it would only bring more death.

She couldn't be the cause of more death.

"I can't be sure, Tai" she eventually said "We'll see what the future holds and plan accordingly"

Tyler wiped some tears from her eyes and looked at her

"Thanks… Thanks, big sis"

Maya drew a grin

"No problem, little Tai"

With that, the older combatant turned her head towards Kaplan, who was silent throughout the conversation, fiddling with his Mini-Com.

"I've lost contact with the other teams" he informed with a grim note in his voice. "I'm guessing it's another of the Red Queen's defenses"

"So now what do we do?" Maya asked.

"We wait. We still have forty three more minutes before the warheads will detonate" He paused and gulped hard.

"If…" he began "If they're not here with ten minutes to go. We will leave"

(--X--)

Next chapter will wrap up the Hunter and Hunted Saga. I think it's about time we did. I hit another writer's block and tried pulling out of it without much success; this is why the last chapters have been so short. I'll _have _to make the closing chapter of this saga longer to include all the closures on each team's sub-plot. Don't worry, I can wrap it up nice and tight.

Remember to review, I appreciate it!


	20. Entry Six: Hunter and Hunted Pt 3

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalrighty. Guess who's back. That's right. ME!

Back from a very long, very dull, very LONG tour. I'm back again with another chapter. Christ, I hope I've got any readers left, haha.

Anyway. This one's putting the seal on the Hunter and Hunted saga. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own F.E.A.R or Resident Evil.

(-----V-----)

Interval Five: Different Paths.

Entry Six: Hunter and Hunted Part Three.

--Outside Interference interrupting the priming process—

Time Remaining: 40:51:00

His lungs were burning up from the prolonged time he spent running; his throat was as dry as the desert, filled with burning sand that choked him with every breath he took to fulfill his body's demands. He couldn't remember how long he had been running, rounding corner after corner with his uniform soaked with sweat that stuck to his body in the most annoying fashion possible. He couldn't even believe what he was doing, he spent every second of his existence running away from it, and now he's running after it.

He was chasing ghosts.

He was chasing Alma.

Stopping for a second to fix his breath, the Point Man scanned his surrounding and was suddenly struck by panic; he had no idea where he was. The corridors, the walls, the office and lab complexes, they all looked the same. He looked back, to see the end of the corridor from which he came, then looked ahead, to see the exact same end; a cubical shaped exit to a T junction, hidden in the darkness.

The Point man stopped cold in his tracks; in his effort to catch up to Alma, he has completely neglected his other two teammates; Alice and Rain. Both of them were in no fighting shape, he wasn't even sure if they had any ammunition left on them. His mouth ran ever drier; he could feel an arc of freezing cold, shooting from the back of his head and across his spine.

Then he heard it, echoing in the hallway.

Childish laughter

"ALMA!"

He roared with rage and sprinted down the hallway, clearing it in seconds. He arrived at the T junction and swerved both left and right, breathing heavily.

Nothing.

"ALMA!!"

He yelled again, bearing his teeth behind the black balaclava.

The laughter rang through his ears again; it felt like nails across a chalkboard to him. He narrowed his eyes and propped the RPL Submachine-gun in his hand to a firing position. Annoyed, he followed the echoing voice, allowing it to lead him through the corridor.

Then he saw her

The little girl in the red dress

She skipped across the corridor as he stood there, watching her as she did. He could feel his throat tightening with every second he spent around in her presence, it was already getting hard to breathe, but he simply kept standing there, observing her, hoping for another clue, hoping for something, anything.

He needed it.

Alma suddenly stopped. The specter turned towards him, and raised her eyes to meet with his.

The Point Man froze, his lungs felt like they were made out of stone. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move, he couldn't even think. His mind melted with sheer awe to the magnitude of the child's powers, he realized now that if she wanted, killing him was not a problem for her.

Something warm trickled from his nose; blood. His head was pounding with pain, but he could not look away; the pale face, the innocent stare, the mesmerizing brown eyes had him pinned down with no ability to break the trance, the spell he was put under. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster, it was beating so hard, his chest was burning up, all because of the girl's stare.

"Follow me"

She said suddenly and looked away from him; finally, he was able to breathe.

Alma turned towards a red door beside her and simply walked through it. Grabbing whatever was left of his strength and stamina, he followed suit and rushed towards the door.

Suddenly, his instincts kicked in, holding him back-

This wouldn't be the first time she led him into a trap.

But just as it was in the Ameracham facility and just as things fell into place during Fettel's raid on Auburn City, he didn't have any choice but to take the bait. He knew Alma, moreover that, he knew about her twisted sense of motherhood.

With one hand gripping the door handle, and the other holding his Sub-Machinegun, he gulped hard and twisted the door open.

He threw the door open and rushed in.

Silence.

Nothing.

His eyes adjusted to the dark, there was nothing there, he couldn't hear anything; no radio chatter, no shuffling of feet, no tripwire or bomb ticking away, nothing aside from his own, heavy breathing.

Wait- something was off.

The rhythm, the sound.

Those breaths, they weren't his.

He reached for his head and flicked his headlight on; a beam of piercing white light was sent through the room, shedding light on the bloodied walls and debris on the floor on the lone assault rifle, broken and mangled on the floor and on the many shell casings, evidence of the fierce gunfight that took place.

His head darted in the direction of the breathing, trying to find the source; he searched high, then looked down, and found the source- lying in a pool of blood, his hands gripping the sniper rifle for dear life, barely breathing

A replica.

He took a cautious step towards him, his weapon trained at him, just in case. The replica moved his head slowly, in the direction of the sound, the smashed visor of his helmet shining under the flashlight. The Point Man expected the soldier to take aim at him, or call for backup, but he didn't.

"Fir-Fir-Fir-First"

His voice modulator acted up, making the sound go up and down the bass scale. The Point Man took another step and shone across the body of the wounded soldier; both his legs were smashed, the bones were shattered, leaving the soldier's legs flattened, his pants soaked with blood. There was a long gash across his stomach, whatever did it to him pierced through the tactical armor he was wearing and reached the flesh, spilling the soldier's insides out. His left arm has been broken outward; a white stiff bone was sticking out in the middle of his arm, the uniform around it stained red.

"Intel could not- not predict the threat, a-a-a-mbush, fucked up. Survival chances were null"

Ambush, he thought, these guys never fall into ambushes, they're so coordinated and cool headed they turn enemy ambushes into their own.

"Who ambushed you? How many of them?"

Using his one good hand, the replica pushed himself up against the wall

"One"

This did not make sense to the Point Man; One soldier? A single enemy ambushed two replicas and defeated them? Maiming them to such an extent?

Questions were crossing his mind like cars in a highway, zipping from one end to the other and bouncing back and forth. He started feeling fear sipping slowly into him, a foul liquid coursing through his veins. One enemy took down two replicas, and that enemy is still alive, wandering through the corridors, it might be looking for him, or Alice, or Rain, or 'One'.

"Who was it?"

The Replica's head stirred from left to right, giving him a rather dazed appearance.

He let go of his weapon and grabbed the underside of his helmet

"I have orders"

With a flick of his thumb, the mouthpiece of his mask was unclasped, revealing a pair of torn and bloodied lips

The Point Man looked at the replica soldier with amazement; he had never seen what a replica really looked like, underneath the armor. He remembered the thought plagued him for some time during his stay in Auburn City.

"What are your orders?"

The replica did not respond, but instead, reached for his helmet. He began undoing the large metal clasps, one by one, opening them up with a resonating 'Clack' as each clasp broke open.

"My orders"

His voice was much clearer now, as the voice modulator was released.

"My orders are to show you"

With that, the soldier collapsed to the ground with an audible thud. He groaned in agony as more blood oozed from his wounds, covering the floor around him in a reddish liquid that shone brightly under the headlamp's light.

The Point Man felt disgusted with every second he spent around the wounded soldier. Was this the enemy he feared so badly, was this a part of Fettel's dreaded Replica army? The replica looked so broken, so weak and fragile. He remembered how much he feared encountering them; they were so vicious, so precise, as if there were bodies of steel and stone behind the black and white uniform.

But this replica, he looked so human.

It sickened the Point Man, sickened him that he actually felt sorry for the man.

"Alright" he ultimately said and took off the fireproof glove on his right hand, reaching for the replica's right temple with trembling fingers

He swallowed hard.

"Show me"

(--T--)

"Hostile!"

His vision blurred, where was he?

He squinted, but couldn't he was not in control. It was like he was watching a television show.

A hand holding the barrel of a G2A2 rose to meet him as the end spewed fire and lead that flew into the darkness ahead. For a breif second, he made out the form of the enemy as it ducked behind a series of large metal crates.

"Where the fuck is it?!"

The other Replica cried as he shouldered his ASP rifle and took a long sweeping motion across the room

The Point Man watched as his body took a step forward, assualt rifle at the ready. His surroundings were so quiet, he was surprised something the size of what he had seen can move in such silence, without making a single sound.

Something croaked

"Over there!"

His vision blurred again, to the right

"It's trying to flank!"

The other Replica felt his pant leg and send his arm back

"Grenade out!"

He waited in patience as the small green object disappeared behind the crates. Again, silence

BOOM!

As the huge fireball lit up the room, he spotted it, in the right corner, it was the thing's shadow, and it was only then that he could hear, past the explosion, the creature's animalisic roar

"Contact!"

Both he and his teammate opened fire, their barrels launching rounds at top speeds towards the creature, as it was stunned by the grenade explosion

He could feel the adrenaline rising in him, like fuel in an engine, it was as if he was watching an action movie from a first person view, he could feel the Replica's powerful arm shake with the recoil of every bullet fired out of the long barrel of the G2A2.

Suddenly, a third stream of rounds came, but from the wrong way

_it was firing back_

"Get to cover!"

His body rolled behind one of the crates as a burst of rounds made contact with the walls behind him, sending an amazing display of sparks that lit up the room. He looked back at the bullet holes, each one was fairly large, in comparison to his weapon, whatever weapon that thing held was of much higher caliber.

"Supressive fire!"

He heard his friend call as he moved behind his cover and unleashed bursts of ammunition towards the monster. Already he heard the thing roar in pain, he saw its figure lower as it tried to evade the high caliber rounds of his friend's ASP rifle. The Point Man watched in amazement as the two replicas were beginning a flanking manouver with not previous planning what so over, he was amazed by their accuracy, their sense of timing and synchronization

Something croaked again, the sound it made as it moved across the floor was even louder than the gunfire. The screech stopped echoing in his head only after he heard the second sound.

His teammate's scream

He looked beyond his cover and saw him pinned againt the wall, more than half of his body was trapped behind a large black crate and every move he made, trying to break free only increased the size of the red stain that grew in his pant leg.

He opened fire just as the monster did, he could see its weapon now, a six-barrled chaingun, roaring fire and death at his teamate's body. As the bullets made contact, his body litteraly broke apart as pieces of bloodied uniform and armor flew everywhere with every bullet hit.

As the monster's gun was done with his teammate, its six dark barrels turned towards him, he could hear the monster's lips curve into a grin as the mechanic noise screeched just before the gun unleashed another barrage of death.

His body reacted fast, he fell into a prone position just as the hail of bullets flew past his head. He rolled and rose behind another metal crate as the monster moved towards him, pushing and breaking things that stood in its way. He could hear it roaring with anger and snarling as it looked for him, he could almost smell its rancid breath, if it was only closer.

Suddenly, silence.

The Point Man could not believe was he was seeing, what was this monster, where did it come from? Was it another of the Red Queen's traps, or another creature bred by Umbrella? The levels of fear in his body was surging, whatever this thing was, it was wandering the halls of the Hive, and was much better armed than both teams together.

He could hear the Replica's breaths as if they were his own, they were so rapid, his pulse was blasting through his eardrums.

He took a step forward, about to leave his cover, his body turned

And was grabbed by a large, metallic, hand.

His body writhed in pain as metal finger tips penetrated his back and dug into his flesh, the assault rifle in his hand dropped to the ground and was smashed by the monster's large foot. The Point Man could feel the Replica's effort to maintain control of his body, to see beyond the pain and the bleeding.

The monster lifted him, its claws digging further into his body, extending the bleeding, his legs were beginning to spasm out of control. He was now at the same height as the monster's large head. A mouth full of teeth opened in front of him and roared. The rancid breath made him sick to his stomach, but he gulped hard and prepared.

Prepared for the moment to attack.

In a flash of a second, he reached for his thigh holster and planted the barrel of his loaded AT-14 handgun at the bottom of the monster's enormous jaw

"Die, motherfucker"

He pulled the trigger, the pistol roared. He pulled it again, and again, and again, and again. He pulled the trigger untill the barrel roared no more and all that could be heard was the silent click of an empty chamber. As the last shell casing hit the floor with a noticable ring, the air went silent again.

"Are you quite finished?"

The voice of a young british girl reached his ears. The Point Man's mind froze. The monster tightened its grip, forcing an unearthly scream of pain from the replica's mouth as his bones were crushed. It tossed the clone soldier to the floor like an old rag-doll and brought it's large foot at his legs. The sound of bones snapping and the Replica's scream filled his ears, still echoing in his mind seconds after.

As his vision began to fade, the Point Man could see the monster turning around and walking away from his downed body, disappearing into the darkness of the large room.

"Oh, god"

He threw his hand away from the Replica soldier, which was now lying still on the floor. The Point Man did not need to check for a pulse, he knew that he was dead.

Standing up, he slung his RPL submachine-gun over his shoulder and prepared to leave the room. He turned towards the exit when his eyes locked on the small figure standing in the doorway

Alma.

"Thank you" He muttered in his raspy voice.

The young appirition replied in its childish giggle as it turned its back at him and skipped away, gradually fading away.

He took off, pumping his legs as fast as he could. This monster, whatever it was, was roaming the hallways of the Hive, and now that the only remaining humans are him and the rest of the survivors, it would surely go after them.

Given what he had seen, neither of them stood much of a chance.

As he rounded another corner in the Hive's endless maze of corridors, he knew what he had to do.

He had to find Alice and Rain.

They had to get out of there.

(--T--)

"They're right behind us!"

Sling turned around and let loose a barrage of high caliber fury from his pistols at the oncoming forms. He could hear the bullets connecting with the metal around him, ringing off in the darkness, the sound merged with the breaths and roars of his pursuers into an orchestra in his ears.

The tables have turned on him and 'One', the hunters have become the hunted as the two combatants were dashing for their very life between the large metal containers of Dining Hall A, chased by the horrific monsters that lurked there.

"We have to gain some distance from them!" he heard 'One' shout "They're gonna surround us!"

He pumped his feet even faster, running as fast as his lungs and muscles could carry him, he felt surges of adrenaline pulse through his body, the cold sweat of fear tingling in the back of his neck, his blood was boiling in his veins, his senses as tense as they would ever be. He knew that neither he nor 'One' knew how many of those things were chasing them, how many were in the room.

They were just trying to make it to the exit.

As they rounded up another corner, Sling's eyes opened wide; at least fifteen of them were standing there.

"Hold it!"

They both skidded to a halt, not knowing what to do, where to go.

They were surrounded

The light reflected off the slimey bodies of the monsters ahead of them. 'One' turned at the sound of a low growl; those who were chasing them closed whatever short distance the dou have gained. They were pacing slowly around them, growling silently in the darkness, thick saliva dripping from their opened mouths.

Back to back now, Sling turned his head

"Never thought I'd go down like this"

"Yeah"

'One' replied and looked ahead; the semicircle of their attackers was slowly closing down on them like a noose

"Famous last words?" he asked

Sling grinned

"Three" he said and raised his two pistols

"Spray and pray!"

As both men began showering molten lead on the monsters, they attacked, running at them at full speed and preparing to leap for the attack. 'One', who was confronted by three of them, running towards him, readied his wounded body for the attack

"Duck!"

He cried as the monsters leapt. He got down on his back, rifle pointed upwards, he was able to hit two of the monsters as they flew above him, shredding their stomachs with his bullets, the third one got a full dish of his boot as he thrust it into its stomach and sent it rocketing off into the darkness

"We're not dead yet, fuckers!"

Sling yelled from his position and let loose another barrage of rounds, every bullet meeting its mark on the face of the monsters.

"I've got an opening!"

'One yelled behind him and grabbed him by his vest, pulling him to his feet

"Move, move, MOVE!"

They both sprinted again, heading into the darkness, again the roars of the monsters followed them, the sound of their sharp claws hitting the floor, the smell of sweat mixed with blood burnt though their nostrils, the air became so heavy that they could hardly take a breath.  
Yet they ran.

"The exit..."

Sling turned his head to see 'One' covered in sweat, he was hardly keeping up the pace, the gunman could see his teammate's body collapsing

"The exit is another two hundred meters, that way"

He pointed with his finger

"I'm gonna throw them off you-"

"NO!"

Sling replied with fire in his eyes

"I knew you were gonna try some stupid shit like that, I'm not leaving you!"

"This is not an arguement, Chris!"

'One' replied, heaving, he could hardly breathe, let alone talk while he was running

"That's a direct order!"

"Fuck orders!"

"Look," the older man started "I'm not gonna make it, I do not want to have you killed because of that. I'm dead weight to you, GET OUT OF HERE!"

With that, 'One' rounded a corner and disappeared into the white mist, in a flash of a second, the entire bulk of their attackers changed their course and headed off after him.

Sling skidded to a halt, realizing what has happened. He stood there for a second, catching his breath, his jade eyes glaring into the distance.

"FUCK!"

He yelled with so much frustration burning out of him, it ran through his body like acid. He felt it in his throat.

(--T--)

His legs couldn't carry him even a step further, his lungs were on fire, his muscles torn. His entire body felt like it was about to shut down.

But 'One' ran, he ran as fast as his sick and wounded body could carry him, he wasn't running for his own good.

He was doing it for Chris.

Throughout his service in the Umbrella BlackOps squads, he became familiar with the qualities of his teammates, and today, as they were all stuck in the hellish underground tomb that was The Hive, he saw those qualities intesified tenfolds, he even got to learn new things.

He didn't know Sling for over an hour. But he knew the young man must survive, even at his own expense. He had to survive.

In his left hand, he grabbed tight a small silvery object, the Inferno grenade. He heard Sling swear, beyond the roars of the creatures, he was hoping the young man followed his instructions and headed for the exit.

He skidded to a halt and pulled the pin from the grenade, tossing it aside and slamming the grenade to the floor.

The creatures ahead of him seemed unfazed by that, as they charged on him full speed.

He shouldered his G36C , flicked the safety off and squeezed the trigger.

(--T--)

Sling's head perked up when he heard the long burst of rounds, he knew it was 'One', it couldn't have been anyone else.

The burst suddely stopped, and was replaced by a piercing scream of pain.

"ONE!!"

He screamed, his cry echoing through the large room.

He slammed both butts of his guns on a nearby container, resting his head on the cold metal, taking in deep breaths to calm the enormous wedge, stuck in his throat.

"FUCK!"

He swore, his voice raising as his eyes shut, he had to block it out, he couldn't believe he lost another teammate. He promised himself it will not happen again, not after Auburn City. He promised Doug, he swore to him.

But he didn't keep his oath.

A roar suddenly reached his ears, a low, unfamiliar roar, unlike those of the monsters, he knew that sound, he knew the feeling that was going through his body.

_something was sucking the air out of the room_

He looked up to see a portion of the room lit up by an orange flame. His eyes widened as he bagan walking backwards, his jade eyes preplexed on the enormous flame

"Oh, shit"

He told himself as he watched the flame grow higher, walking back even faster

"Oh, shit"

He saw the fire expanding to the shape of a sphere, growing ever more

Untill it exploded

"SHIT!"

He sprinted as he felt the floor shaking under his feet, he could hear the screech of the fireball as it ate through the room and feel the heat it generated as it came closer and closer to him.

It took no longer than a second for the shockwave to send him face first into the floor. A white ball of pain exploded inside his head as red liquid began pouring down from his forehead. He turned around, now lying on his back against the mucky floor, eyes wide open at the destruction he knew was caused by 'One's Inferno grenade. He watched as the containers surrounding the blast area were completly blown to burning pieces of metal, and at the orange and red flames that ate at the floor and walls near the explosion. He wiped the blood from the gash in his forehead, along with a few tears. Springing back to his feet, he suddenly felt the rage build inside him. These things, whatever they were, took his teammate, they took Spooks, and now they took another, they took the most respected commander among the Umbrella assault teams.

"I'll kill you!"

He suddenly screamed, above the steady hum of the flames

"I'll kill all of you, to the last one!"

He looked ahead, at a shadow that escaped the flames and stuffed a cigarette into his mouth, breathing on death.

"Even if it kills me"

He began walking slowly, stalking them, his sense as tense as they could be, he was attuned to every little cling or clang he heard across the room as his jade eyes scanned every inch ahead of him. He knew they had the upper hand in this confernation, this was their home. But he was not going to let that stop him. They took too much from him.

"Oh, the tide, she's a turnin'"

He hummed to himself as his steps became slower and slower, as quiet as a shadow, as quiet as _they were_, the hunter has once again become the hunted. It didn't more than half a minute for him to find one of those creatures, doing the same as he was; stalking, waiting for another target to attack.

"GOTCHA!"

He screamed and pulled the triggers of his pistols. As the barrels roared fire, the monster shreiked and jumped out of harm's way, disappearing again.

"Man, you Lickers are annoying"

Sling said and blew smoke from his lips

"But that's okay, I've got all the time in the-"

A noise stopped him halfway, he swerved backwards and unleashed another volly of rounds towards an incoming monster

"WORLD!"

This one, did not run as the former, but pressed on with the attack, sprinting even faster. A bullet, shot between its legs made it hop to a nearby container, now running horizontally, but still sprinting at its target

Him.

"No shakin' me now!"

Sling yelled as another barrage was let loose, hitting the container and sending bright sparks everywhere. Sling looked with amazement as the monsters suddenly leapt to the ground, screeching in pain, its slimy body sprouting flames, each starting where a spark hit. The horrendous creatures tried rolling against the floor in a vain attempt to put itself out, by this time, the thing's screeches nearly shattered the gunman's ears, but in no avail. In a matter of seconds, the creatures way lying on its back, small flames still erupting from its charred body.

He stepped closer to the monster's coprse, the smell of burnt flesh filled his lungs.

"Now, I know how to kill you"

He ejected both clips from his pistols and searched his pockets, whipping out two silvery magazines with an orange stripe decorating each one. Those were modified 45' caliber Tracer rounds, enriched with Magnezium to increase the burning effect, triggered when the bullet's primer ignited; Incinirator Rounds.

He reached for his mouth and took the bud of the cigarette, placing it between his index and his thumb

"Thanks for your help, lil' buddy, couldn't 'av done it without ya"

He tossed the burning bud into the creature's open mouth and kicked it shut.

On the hunt again, Sling did not even try to remain hidden. He stomped the floor with every step he took, making sure to take as many stomping steps as he could, he wanted to make noise, he wanted them to know he was there. He wanted to get even.

"Come out, come out..."

He hissed silently

_ROAR!!!_

He looked above to see a shadow diving towards him at an insane speed. He raised his guns and fired two rounds. Two red lines, indicating the Tracers ignited, appeared in midair and embedded themselves into the shadow, which, in a friction of a second, lit up into a screaming fireball that hit the ground and remained motionless, grey smoke emerging from it.

Sling did not have time to ponder over his new victim, as he heard the noise of claws behind him. He turned, at least fifteen of them were there. He raised his pistols and unleashed another barrage of death from the barrels of his AT-14s, the red rounds flew everywhere, lighting up whatever monster they were able to hit. The Lickers scattered, but the vast majority of them were hit, erupting into flames and screeches of pain. Sling did not let out, each pistol tracing a row of Lickers as they stromed at him, full speed. He fired again, and again, and again, this time, every bullet met its mark, setting another abomination on fire. He was thinning their numbers quickly, if he keeps going like this, he just might-

_click, click_

He threw both his pistols aside and reached for his rear X holster, whipping dual Beretta 9mm's. Another came at him, but his accuracy never failed, peppering the Licker's face with rounds, he saw the monster falling just inches away from his feet. He reloaded and took a step forward, passing the dead beast.

Just as he felt a sharp pain in his neck

The Licker tugged, and Sling was tossed to the ground. He arched his body, his vision reversed as up became down, to see one of them, glaring at him with his tongue strched out. The choking sensation made it clear to him that he fell for an ambush, hook line and sinker, but his survival insticts kicked in

He took aim and fired, shelling the Licker with every bullet his pistols had, the monster roared and tugged harder, Sling could feel his body going numb as his vision began to blur.

But one last bullet did it.

The tongue suddenly became flacid, he could breathe again.

Fixing his breath, Sling took a second to observe the destruction he caused-

When another roared.

Above him.

He raised his pistols to fire, they both clicked empty, _his backup guns were empty, one more left_, he reached for it, but it was too late.

Claws dug in to his chest and pelvis. He felt his bones break, a scream of pain escaped his lips, along with a warm liquid that splattered all over the monster's face as it roared with triumph. Blood.

His blood.

He could feel the warm liquid filling his lungs, it became harder to breathe with each milisecond that passed. Above him, the Licker roared again and went in for the kill.

But he was still alive.

He threw his arm forward and jammed it in the creature's jaw, acting like a tough stick to stop it from slamming its jaws shut. He screamed again as more pain flowed from his arm as the Licker's powerful jaws thretened to break his arm in pieces. He searched with his other hand, trying to remain among the living, just one more, _just one more_

A sudden snapping sound filled the air, Sling's arm finally gave way to the Licker's jaws, but Sling's lips were twisted into a mean grin.

His other arm was also inside the creture's mouth.

"Buffete's closed"

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Seven streams of blood flew from the top of the Licker's head before it collapsed. Sling pushed its lifeless body from him. Revealing six deep bleeding holes in his chest, and six more in his pelvis. He tried moving his legs, but in no avail. The Licker broke his pelvis, he was paralyzed for the waist and below. Sling glanced at the gun in his hand, the custom made Desert Eagle, the one Holiday made for him

And stuffed the barrel in his mouth.

He closed his eyes, awaiting the end, he knew what would become of him if he did not pull the trigger.

_Click_

He pulled the barrel out of his mouth and observed the empty chamber

"Aw, fuck"

He swore and held it close to him, with both his bloodied hands. He has done good today, he killed them, he killed all of them.

He killed them for 'One' and Spooks, and Holiday, and every single man of the Crimsons that was killed down there.

His head rested motionless on the mucky floor. Blood poured out of his mouth.

But his jade eyes remained open.

(--T--)

"Kaplan, where are you?"

Alice spoke harshly into the mini-comm, her pale skin was covered in cold sweat. It seemegly took hours before the earpiece fuzzed to life

"_Oh, god, Alice_" Kaplan's nervous voice rang "_It's so good to hear from you. I'm with the girls, we're aboard the Alexi train, we started it up and heading towards platform C to pick you guys up_"

Alice's lips curved into a smile, she was about to turn her head when the earpiece fuzzed to life again

"_There's more good news, Alice_" Kaplan's voice continued "_We found something on the train, some kind of chemical compound inside a black case. I looked it up in the Red Queen's database...._"

There was slince for a few seconds

"_It's the Anti-Virus, Alice, we have a cure!_"

Alice laughed out loud at the news, the bright smile on her face was enough to light up the entire room

"That's great!" she cried "We're coming over there, just try and check on 'One's team. We'll be there in five minutes!"

She turned around towards the Point Man, who was helping Rain walk, the latter's head was barely hanging on the Point Man's shoulder

"We have a cure Rain" she said with a bright smile "You're gonna be okay!"

"We're all gonna be okay"

Rain lifted her head to eye Alice, she strained hard to keep her blue eyes, which stood in total negation to her pale face

"Great" she murmured

"I feel better already"

(----------X----------)

OMG!

THAT FELT SO GOOD! I can't believe I'm back writing. I finally shook off whatever was sitting on me. This chapter felt so good to me, it was so intense!

More to come, folks. Two or three more chapters, and that's the end of Fear No Evil.

R&R folks, 'till next time!


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